paragram

1 9.9

A joke made by changing a word's first letter to make a new word

noun
/ˈpærəˌgræm/

Literature

: parágrama

The poet delighted the audience with a clever paragram that changed 'lover' to 'loafer.'

Examples

She used a paragram by altering the first letter of 'friend' to create an entirely new meaning.
A witty paragram can transform a simple phrase into a playful joke.
She created a clever paragram during the debate.
A funny paragram can lighten the mood.
A witty paragram can transform a simple phrase into a playful joke.
The poet delighted the audience with a clever paragram that changed 'lover' to 'loafer.'
She used a paragram by altering the first letter of 'friend' to create an entirely new meaning.

Synonyms

anagram

vsparagram

17 5.1

A word or phrase made by changing the order of another word's letters

changes one or a few letters often the first to create a humorous pun

Surface Forms

paragram singular

paragrams plural

Morphology

paragram = para + gram

Although the word is historically built from a prefix plus a letter-related bound form, the meaning 'pun or play on words created by altering letters' is not predictable for an average learner from the visible parts.

Etymology

The word paragram comes from Greek parts para- 'beside' and -gram 'letter', the same ending as in anagram. So a paragram is a playful change to a word — a small pun made by altering its letters.