misnomer
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
misnomer
- /(ˌ)mɪsˈnəʊmə/ UK
- /ˌmɪsˈnoʊməɹ/ US
Rhymes with -əʊmə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
The noun is derived from Late Middle English misnoumer (“(law) mistaken identification of a person; plea based on such misidentification”), from Anglo-Norman mesnomer, a noun use of Anglo-Norman mesnomer, mesnommer, and Old French mesnomer, mesnommer (“to name incorrectly”), from mes- (prefix meaning ‘badly, wrongly’) + nomer, nommer (“to name”) (from Latin nōmināre, the present active infinitive of nōminō (“to name”), from nōmen (“name”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)).
The verb is derived from the noun.
noun misnomers
- A mistake in the naming of a person or place; a misidentification.
- An incorrect use of a term, especially one which is misleading; a misname. […] plaintiff's misstyling himself as corporation in initial complaint constituted case of misnomer.
-
A term which is misleading, even if firmly established, technically correct, or both.
The name Chinese checkers is a misnomer since the game has nothing to do with China.
Opposite: aptronym
- Something which is asserted not to be true; a mistaken belief, a falsehood, a myth. It’s a misnomer that all doctors have bad handwriting.
verb misnomers · misnomering · misnomered
-
To use an incorrect, and especially misleading, name for (someone or something); to misidentify, to misname.
Similar: misnome
Translations
Every language
noun incorrect use of a term, especially one which is misleading
| Español | mala designación/denominación, mal descriptor |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 오칭 oching |
| 日本語 | 誤称 goshō |
| 中文 | 誤稱 /误称 wùchēng |
| Deutsch | Falschbezeichnung, Fehlbenennung, Fehlbezeichnung, irreführende Bezeichnung, Namensirrtum, unpassende Bezeichnung |
| Italiano | denominazione impropria |
| Ελληνικά | ακυριολεξία akyriolexía |
Talk about this word "misnomer." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/misnomer. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. misnomer. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/misnomer "misnomer." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/misnomer.Cite this
@misc{misnomer_2026,
title = {misnomer},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/misnomer},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
