equivoque

Equivoque is a term used to describe ambiguity arising from a word or phrase that has two or more senses. In English usage it is often borrowed from French, and it can refer to the linguistic phenomenon itself as well as to rhetorical practices that exploit such ambiguity. In rhetoric, equivoque denotes deliberate language that invites multiple interpretations, sometimes to provoke humor, irony, or persuasion. In logic or argumentation, it can describe the fallacy of equivocation, where a key term shifts meaning within an argument.

Etymology: The word derives from the French équivoque, which in turn traces to Latin aequivocus, meaning having equal voices or senses (two readings that are equally valid). This reflects the core idea of a statement or phrase that can bear more than one interpretation.

Usage: Equivoque covers both lexical ambiguity (a word with multiple senses, such as bank meaning a financial institution or a riverbank) and syntactic ambiguity (a sentence whose structure yields different readings, such as We saw her duck, which can mean we saw her duck’s action or the bird). In literary and rhetorical contexts, équivoque is often celebrated as a device that creates texture, double meaning, or humor. In critical analysis, it is examined as a source of ambiguity that affects interpretation and communicative clarity.

See also: Equivocation, Ambiguity, Double entendre, Polysemy, Semantics.