persiflage

noun per·si·flage \ ˈpər-si-ˌfläzh , ˈper- \

Examples: persiflage in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of persiflage

: frivolous bantering talk : light raillery

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Examples of persiflage in a Sentence

their tongue-in-cheek persiflage is sometimes mistaken for an exchange of insults by people who don't know them

Did You Know?

Unwanted persiflage on television might provoke an impatient audience to hiss or boo, but from an etymological standpoint, no other reaction could be more appropriate. English speakers picked up persiflage from French in the 18th century. Its ancestor is the French verb persifler, which means "to banter" and was formed from the prefix per-, meaning "thoroughly," plus siffler, meaning "to whistle, hiss, or boo." Siffler in turn derived from the Latin verb sibilare, meaning "to whistle or hiss." By the way, sibilare is also the source of sibilant, a word linguists use to describe sounds like those made by "s" and "sh" in sash. That Latin root also underlies the verb sibilate, meaning "to hiss" or "to pronounce with or utter an initial sibilant."