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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 1Scene 3
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"four" and "teen"
Wordplay
Act 1,
Scene 3
Lines 11-15

An explanation of the Nurse’s wordplay in Act 1, Scene 3 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Lady Capulet

Thou know'st my daughter's of a pretty age.

Nurse

Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.

Lady Capulet

She's not fourteen.

Nurse

I'll lay fourteen of my teeth — and yet, to my teen be it
spoken, I have but four — she is not fourteen. How long is it

In this moment of wordplay, the nurse says she'll bet fourteen of her teeth that Juliet is not yet 14. But she also admits that she has only "four" teeth, which would cause her "teen," or grief, if it were widely known.