Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
A form of (possibly intentional) error arising from mishearing a spoken or sung phrase, possibly in a different language.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: mishearing
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A misunderstanding of a written or spoken phrase as a result of multiple definitions.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Coined by American journalist and editor Sylvia Wright in 1954 in Harper's Magazine from mishearing a line in the Scottish ballad The Bonnie Earl o' Moray: “They have slain the Earl o' Moray, / And laid him on the green”, the second line being misheard as, “And Lady Mondegreen”.
Across languages
19 source translations are retained for this English entry.
