Quipped

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Expressed a quick, clever, or humorous comment in response to something
2. Delivered a brief but sharp or amusing statement often to amuse or criticize
3. Spoken a succinct and witty observation meant to entertain or provoke thought

Etymology: "Quipped" is the past tense of "quip," and the verb's history is a surprisingly murky one. "Quip" appears to have been shortened from an earlier word, "quippy," which is related to Latin "quippe," meaning "indeed" or "certainly." That Latin word was itself built on "quid," meaning "what," so the ancestry runs from a word for "what" to a word for "indeed" before it ever reached English as a term for a clever remark. The link between that Latin origin and a witty jab is not obvious, and the connection is not firmly established. The original sense of "quip" in English seems to have been a more general notion of a quibble or a sharp retort, which helps explain why the word came to mean a brief, pointed remark.

Synonyms: joked, jest, pun, wisecracked, sarcasted