paragram
/ˈparəɡram/noun
A play on words in which a letter or group of letters in a word is altered so as to produce or suggest another word.
- By some writers restricted to the change of the initial letter or letters, as in Biberius Mero for Tiberius Nero, but Aristotle included examples such as κόλαξ for κόραξ..
Origin
Mid 17th century; earliest use found in Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), philosopher. From Hellenistic Greek παράγραμμα play on words, pun (as a Greek word in Cicero ad Familiares 7. 32. 2), in ancient Greek (in Greek authors) in senses ‘substitute for a letter, in cipher’, ‘additional clause’ from παρα- + γράμμα letter; compare ancient Greek τὰ παρὰ γράμμα σκώμματα, lit. ‘jokes by the letter’.