Gloss · Words · Mondegreen

mondegreen

ˈmɑːndɪˌɡriːnnoun

What does mondegreen mean?

A misheard lyric or phrase that makes its own sense.

Mondegreen, six ways

PlainA misheard lyric or phrase that makes its own sense.
ADHDMisheard lyrics. Wrong words. Sung with confidence.
Gen ZThe lyric you sang wrong for ten years. “Hold me closer, Tony Danza.”
MetaphorA song that took a wrong turn on the way to your ear.
FormalA misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing, especially of song lyrics.
Like I’m 5When you hear a song wrong and sing the wrong words. That’s a mondegreen.

How to pronounce mondegreen

MON-dih-green/ˈmɑːndɪˌɡriːn/

Mondegreen in a sentence

Every family has one mondegreen they refuse to give up.
Every family keeps one mondegreen from a car-radio song.
Children produce mondegreens constantly in hymns and anthems.

Synonyms for mondegreen

mishearingPlainer.
misheard lyricThe everyday phrase.

Where mondegreen comes from

Coined by the writer Sylvia Wright in 1954, after she misheard a ballad’s “laid him on the green” as “Lady Mondegreen.”

Good to know

Mondegreens usually come from songs and poems. When a misheard phrase still makes a kind of sense and gets written down, like “for all intensive purposes,” linguists call it an eggcorn.

Mondegreen meaning, on a Gloss card: A misheard lyric or phrase that makes its own sense.

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In: Words with a story