nonsense word

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

nonsense +‎ word

Noun[edit]

nonsense word (plural nonsense words)

  1. A neologised word that does not have a given meaning, or that has been invented without any etymological sense.
    • 1983, Michael E. Adelstein, Wendell Keats Sparrow, Business communications:
      George Bernard Shaw's classic joke about English spelling is that his nonsense word ghoti should be pronounced fish. He explained: gh = like the gh in cough = fo = like the o in women = i ti = like the ti in nation = sh ghoti = fish.

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

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