For example, “baited breath” instead of “bated breath” has become a commonly used eggcorn, despite the fact that “bated breath” is the correct phrase. In some cases, eggcorns can even become accepted alternatives to the original words or phrases. Sometimes the eggcorn becomes more common or makes more sense than the original phrase. They may mishear the word or phrase, or they may not know its correct spelling or pronunciation. “Wet your appetite” instead of “whet your appetite”Įggcorns happen when people hear or read a word or phrase that they don’t know or don’t understand and try to make sense of it based on what they do know.“Peak my interest” instead of “pique my interest”.“Hunger pains” instead of “hunger pangs”.“Break” instead of “brake” (and vice versa).“On tender hooks” instead of “on tenterhooks”.“Nip it in the butt” instead of “nip it in the bud”.“For all intensive purposes” instead of “for all intents and purposes”.Here are some examples of common eggcorns: a word or phrase that sounds like and is mistakenly used in a seemingly logical or plausible way for another word or phrase either on its own or as part of a set expression.Įggcorns can take many forms and occur in different contexts.According to the esteemed dictionary, an eggcorn is: After Merriam-Webster added “eggcorn” to its online dictionary in 2015, the idea took off. He began researching similar errors, eventually coining the term “eggcorn” to describe them. In 2003, British linguist Geoffrey Pullum noticed that a colleague had used the phrase “eggcorn” instead of “acorn.” Pullum found the mistake interesting, and even relatable: an egg has a similar shape to an acorn. Elevate your writing with real-time, intelligent assistance Learn More Origin of the term eggcorn
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