misnomer

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  mesnomer, noun use of Anglo-Norman and (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French verb mesnomer (“to name incorrectly”), from mes- (“mis-”) + nomer (“to name”) (from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin nōmināre).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪsˈnəʊmə/
• IPA^(key): /mɪsˈnoʊmɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊmə(r)

Noun

misnomer (plural misnomers)

1. A use of a term that is misleading; a misname.

   Synonym: misname

   Calling it a driveway is a bit of a misnomer, since you don't drive on it, you park on it.

   • 1994, Illinois. Appellate Court, ‎Stephen Davis Porter, Illinois Appellate reports (page 257)

     […] plaintiff's misstyling himself as corporation in initial complaint constituted case of misnomer.

2. A term that is misleading.

   Chinese checkers is a misnomer since the game has nothing to do with China.

3. A term whose sense in common usage conflicts with a technical sense.
4. (proscribed, nonstandard) something asserted not to be true; a myth or mistaken belief

Usage notes

The term misnomer is sometimes used autologically as "something asserted not to be true; a myth or mistaken belief", as in the following example:

It's a misnomer that engineers can't write.

Translations

use of term that is misleading

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: verkeerde naam
• Finnish: harhaanjohtava (fi) (adjective; often used in partitive)
• German: Fehlbenennung f, Fehlbezeichnung f, Namensirrtum m, Unwort (de) n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: ακυριολεξία (el) f (akyriolexía)
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} névhiba, ^{(please verify)} tévedés (hu), ^{(please verify)} téves elnevezés
• Icelandic: rangnefni n
• Turkish: yanlış adlandırma, uygunsuz adlandırma

misleading term

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: harhaanjohtava käsite ("käsite" may be replaced with termi, sana, sanonta, ilmaus etc.)
• Greek: ακυριολεξία (el) f (akyriolexía)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: tévedés (hu)
• Icelandic: rangnefni n
• Italian: denominazione impropria f
• Japanese: 誤称 (goshō)

term whose sense in common usage conflicts with a technical sense

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: harhaanjohtava käsite ("käsite" may be replaced with termi, sana, sanonta, ilmaus etc.)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} slecht gekozen term de
• French: ^{(please verify)} terme mal approprié m
• German: ^{(please verify)} falsche Bezeichung f
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} שם לא נכון , ^{(please verify)} שקרי
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 잘못된 이름 (jalmotdoen ireum)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 錯誤的名稱／错误的名称, ^{(please verify)} 错误的名称
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} termen nepotrivit
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} camenw

Antonyms

• aptronym

See also

• catachresis

Verb

misnomer (third-person singular simple present misnomers, present participle misnomering, simple past and past participle misnomered)

1. (transitive) To use a misleading term; to misname.

Anagrams

• semi-norm, seminorm