equivoque

equivoque

See also: equivoqué and équivoque

English

Alternative forms

• equivoke, æquivoque

Etymology

From Late Latin aequivocus (“ambiguous, equivocal”), from Latin aequus (“equal”) + vocō (“call”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛkwɪvəʊk/

Adjective

equivoque (comparative more equivoque, superlative most equivoque)

1. (obsolete) Equivocal.

Noun

equivoque (plural equivoques)

1. (obsolete) A homonym.
2. A play on words, a pun.
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 53, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume II, London: Harrison and Co., […], published 1781, OCLC 316121541:

     [H]e sported in many other æquivoques of the same nature; and at dinner told the physician, that he was like the root of the tongue, as being cursedly down in the mouth.

3. Ambiguity or double meaning.
   • 1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate 2006, p. 648:

     [T]he black wisps of women bargaining behind those veils might turn out to be the ballet and coalesce in some dance gaily admitting their equivoque of concealing and proclaiming their sex.

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Spanish

Verb

equivoque

1. inflection of equivocar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative