double entendre

A double entendre is a word or expression that can be understood in two ways, especially when one meaning is risqué. If you’ve ever cracked a that’s what she said joke, you’ve created a double entendre.

In French in the 16th century, double entendre was an expression meaning “double understanding” or “ambiguity”—something that could be construed in two ways.

Its modern French form is double entente (like double intent), but double entendre became fixed in English at least since it was used by John Dryden in his 1673 comedic play Marriage à la Mode.

Early uses of double entendre in French and English were used to call out duplicitous or evasive language meant to deceive someone, wriggle out of the long arm of the law, or deviate from Christian virtues in some way. One early French author even warned that “girls must be firmly on their guard against double entendres,” as they might “poison these poor, sweet, delicate girls.”

By the early 19th century, double entendre honed in on its wordplay sense, especially sexual innuendo.

Double entendre usually describes sexually suggestive wordplay ranging from Shakespeare’s use of sword to pun on “penis” throughout his 1590s Romeo and Juliet to rockers Led Zeppelin’s use of squeeze my lemon for “sexual stimulation” in their “Lemon Song” in 1969.

Less commonly, double entendre can also describe other wordplay, such as life’s a beach.

While double entendres themselves aren’t usually appropriate in a professional context, the expression double entendre is considered a learned, if not uncommon, term.

More examples of double entendre:

“Showcasing uncanny vintage wit, Cella Blue fashions a double entendre out of an intruder rifling through her dresser with anonymous sex in standout cut ‘Who’s That in My Drawers?’”
—Kevin Curtin, The Austin Chronicle, June, 2018

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.