Parody

How to spell parody

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce parody

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does parody mean?

1. nounA comic or exaggerated imitation of a particular writer, performer, work, or style.
2. verbTo imitate a person, work, or style in an exaggerated way for comic effect.

Parody in a sentence

• noun

  The sketch was a clever parody of the evening news.

• verb

  Comedians often parody the speeches of well known politicians.

• noun

  His novel reads like a parody of cheap detective fiction.

• verb

  The students wrote a song to parody their old textbook.

Where does parody come from?

Language of origin: Greek

Parody comes from the Greek paroidia, which literally meant a 'song sung beside or against another', built from para meaning 'beside' and oide meaning 'song' or 'ode'. In ancient Greek practice it described a piece that mimicked the style of a serious poem or song while twisting its content for comic or satirical effect. The word passed into Latin as parodia and then into English in the late 1500s, arriving in the company of other literary terms borrowed during the Renaissance. The same oide root that supplies the ending here also sits inside 'ode', 'melody', and 'rhapsody', which is a useful reminder that the final syllable is spelled -ody rather than the more tempting -ady. From a literary label the word broadened into everyday use for any imitation so exaggerated that it becomes laughable or hollow.

How the word is built

• par- (beside, from Greek para)
• -ody (from oide: song, ode)