spoonerism

English

WOTD – 20 June 2006

Etymology

Spooner +‎ -ism, named after the Reverend W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), who is supposed to have habitually made such slip-ups.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• enPR: spo͞onʹərĭzəm, IPA^(key): /ˈspuːnəɹɪzəm/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

spoonerism (plural spoonerisms)

1. A play on words on a phrase in which the initial (usually consonantal) sounds of two or more of the main words are transposed.

   The spoonerism "The queer old dean" (instead of "the dear old Queen") is attributed to Rev. Spooner.

Synonyms

• marrowsky

Related terms

• spooneristic

Translations

phrase where sounds are transposed

• Breton: treuzviezadenn (br) f
• Catalan: contrapet (ca) m
• Danish: bakke snagvendt
• Dutch: spoonerisme (nl) n
• Esperanto: kontraŭknalo
• Finnish: sananmuunnos (fi)
• French: contrepèterie (fr) f, contrepet (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: παραδρομή γλώσσας f (paradromí glóssas)
• Polish: gra półsłówek f
• Portuguese: trocadilho (pt) m, spoonerismo m
• Russian: спунери́зм m (spunerízm), спунери́зм m (spunɛrízm), каламбу́р (ru) m (kalambúr)
• Spanish: espunerismo m, espunerismos m pl
• Thai: คำผวน (th) n
• Vietnamese: (phép) nói lái (vi), (phép) nói trại

Anagrams

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