1
Stage 1 of 3
eironeia
Greek · ancient
"feigned ignorance"
feigned ignorance, a rhetorical technique of understatement
2
Stage 2 of 3
ironie
French · 1500s
"a mode of speech implying the opposite of what is said"
carried into French rhetorical vocabulary
3
Stage 3 of 3
irony
English · 1500s
"expression conveying a meaning opposite to the literal one"
settled as the word for expression conveying the opposite of the literal meaning
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