Mondegreen
A mondegreen is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase that creates a new meaning. The term was coined by writer Sylvia Wright in 1954, based on her childhood misinterpretation of a Scottish ballad. Mondegreens often occur when listeners substitute unclear lyrics with similar-sounding words that make sense to them.
- ▪Mondegreens are commonly found in songs and poems.
- ▪Sylvia Wright first introduced the term in a 1954 essay.
- ▪The word was added to several dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary in 2002.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Toggle the table of contents Mondegreen 21 languages ČeštinaDanskDeutschEspañolEuskaraSuomiFrançaisBahasa IndonesiaÍslenskaItalianoქართული한국어Bahasa MelayuNedersaksiesNederlandsPolskiPortuguêsРусскийSvenskaУкраїнська粵語 Edit links ArticleTalk English ReadEditView history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read Edit View history General What links hereRelated changesUpload filePermanent linkPage informationCite this pageGet shortened URL Print/export Download as PDFPrintable version In other projects Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Misinterpretation of a spoken phrase .mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Wikipedia.
