Meaning of mondegreen | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A form of (possibly intentional) error arising from mishearing a spoken or sung phrase, possibly in a different language.
2. A misunderstanding of a written or spoken phrase as a result of multiple definitions.
   rare

Equivalents

Examples

“Our report of a relative who, as a child, thought the classic version of the Lord's Prayer began "Our father, a chart in heaven, Harold be thy name" stated that this type of mistake is known as an eggcorn. A number of readers have suggested that instances like this in which a whole phrase rather than just a word is misheard, should be called mondegreens rather than eggcorns.”

“The title lyric ["Bei Mir Bistu Shein"], the only part of the original Yiddish preserved by Cahn, was a mondegreen waiting to happen—“My Mere Bits of Shame” and “My Beer, Mr. Shane” were among the earliest recorded mishearings—but the language barrier didn't […]”

CEFR level