Mondegreen
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A form of (possibly intentional) error arising from mishearing a spoken or sung phrase, possibly in a different language.
"Our report of a relative who, as a child, thought the classic version of the Lord's Prayer began "Our father, a chart in heaven, Harold be thy name" stated that this type of mistake is known as an eggcorn. A number of readers have suggested that instances like this in which a whole phrase rather than just a word is misheard, should be called mondegreens rather than eggcorns."
- 2 A misunderstanding of a written or spoken phrase as a result of multiple definitions. rare
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Our report of a relative who, as a child, thought the classic version of the Lord's Prayer began "Our father, a chart in heaven, Harold be thy name" stated that this type of mistake is known as an eggcorn. A number of readers have suggested that instances like this in which a whole phrase rather than just a word is misheard, should be called mondegreens rather than eggcorns."
Etymology
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”.
Related phrases
More for "mondegreen"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.