paronomasia
n 1: a humorous play on words; "I do it for the pun of it"; "his
constant punning irritated her" [syn: {pun}, {punning},
{wordplay}, {paronomasia}]
Paronomasia \Par`o*no*ma"si*a\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to form
a word by a slight change; para` beside + ? to name, fr.
'o`noma a name.] (Rhet.)
A play upon words; a figure by which the same word is used in
different senses, or words similar in sound are set in
opposition to each other, so as to give antithetical force to
the sentence; punning. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster] Paronomastic