Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

spoonerism


Translate spoonerism | into Italian
Definition of spoonerism

noun

  • a verbal error in which a speaker accidentally transposes the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, often to humorous effect, as in the sentence you have hissed the mystery lectures.

Origin:

early 20th century: named after the Revd W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), an English scholar who reputedly made such errors in speaking

spoonerism in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of spoonerism in the US English dictionary
  |  Cite

Word of the day

kempt

/ kɛm(p)t /
adjective
maintained in a neat and clean condition …