Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

euphuism

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables
eu-phuism
IPA
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An instance of euphuism.

Countable

noun

Misconstruction of euphemism.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Alternative letter-case form of euphuism.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

Etymology

From Euphues (Ancient Greek ευφυής (euphuḗs, “graceful, witty”)) + -ism, after the titular character in John Lyly’s didactic romance Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578). Lyly adopted the name from Roger Ascham’s The Scholemaster (published 1570), which describes Euphues as a type of student who is “apte by goodness of witte, and appliable by readiness of will, to learning, hauving all other qualities of the mind and parts of the body, that must an other day serue learning, not troubled, mangled, and halfed, but sound, whole, full & able to do their office”.

Origin

Word Breakdown

Usage

Inflected Forms

Frequently Paired Words

Questions

What does euphuism mean?
An ornate style of writing (in Elizabethan England) marked by the excessive use of alliteration, antithesis and mythological similes.
Where does euphuism come from?
It is traced to Ancient Greek.

How to pronounce euphuism

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “euphuism”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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