spoonerism
English · Thesaurus
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
spoonerism¹
- /ˈspuː.nəɹˌɪ.zəm/
Where it comes from
From Spooner + -ism, named after Oxford don Reverend W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), who is supposed to have habitually made such slip-ups.
noun spoonerisms · Spoonerism
-
A play on words on a phrase in which the initial (usually consonantal) sounds of two or more of the main words are transposed.
Undergraduates at Oxford University were playfully fond of Spooner, whom they nicknamed "the Spoo". They also coined the term "spoonerism" around 1885, after Spooner had been a fellow at New College for almost twenty years. By 1892, his reputation for absentmindedness was well known; students came t
Similar: marrowsky
Spoonerism²
noun Spoonerisms
- Alternative letter-case form of spoonerism A Spoonerism may sometimes alter the whole tenor of a person’s career. An extremely bashful man was asked to find the elderly daughter of the house, who was in the garden, and ask her to make tea. “Miss Florence,” he said, when he discovered her in the rosery, “I have come to ask if you will take me
Translations
Every language
noun phrase where sounds are transposed
| Español | espunerismo, espunerismos, retruécano |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 두음전환 dueumjeonhwan |
| 日本語 | 語音転換 goon tenkan |
| 中文 | 首音互换 shǒuyīn hùhuàn |
| Português | trocadilho, spoonerismo, antístrofe |
| Français | contrepèterie, contrepet |
| Italiano | spoonerismo |
| Ελληνικά | παραδρομή γλώσσας paradromí glóssas |
| Русский | спунери́зм spunerízm, спунери́зм spunɛrízm, каламбу́р kalambúr |
| Tiếng Việt | (phép) nói lái, (phép) nói trại |
Talk about this word "spoonerism." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/spoonerism. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. spoonerism. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/spoonerism "spoonerism." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/spoonerism.Cite this
@misc{spoonerism_2026,
title = {spoonerism},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/spoonerism},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
