lapsus calami

English

Etymology

From Latin lāpsus calamī (literally “slip of the pen”), from calamus (“pen”).

Noun

lapsus calami (plural lapsus calami)

1. (formal) Synonym of slip of the pen.

   Synonym: lapsus plumæ

   Coordinate terms: lapsus digiti, lapsus digitorum; lapsus linguae, slip of the tongue, speako

   Near-synonyms: writo; miswriting; misprint; typo

   • 1995, Annals, volume 28, page 5, column 2:

     Unfortunately, there are two lapsus calami, which I missed in my review of the proof. They are as follows:
     • third paragraph, last line: the word “proximal” should be “proximate”
     • fourth paragraph, fourth last line: the word “ancestor” should be “ancestry”
     • in the same paragraph, the clause “The Eucarya share a common ancestry with Archaea, independently of Bacteria,” should be separately referenced with 6a.

Translations

slip of the pen — see also slip of the pen

• Spanish: lapsus cálami m

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌlabsus ˈkalami/ [ˌlaβ̞.sus ˈka.la.mi]
• Syllabification: lap‧sus ca‧la‧mi

Noun

lapsus calami m (plural lapsus calamis)

1. alternative spelling of lapsus cálami

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “lapsus calami”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025