malapropism
/ˈmæləpɹɑpˌɪzəm/noun
malapropism is spelled M-A-L-A-P-R-O-P-I-S-M: 11 letters. It appears about once in every 41 million words in written English, the 196,618th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, malapropism means “The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar-sounding one” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of malapropism is malapropisms.
How many letters and syllables are in malapropism?
| Letters | 11: M-A-L-A-P-R-O-P-I-S-M |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 41 million words; the 196,618th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is malapropism?
Malapropism appears about once in every 41 million words in written English, the 196,618th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce malapropism?
- UK /ˈmæləpɹɒpˌɪzəm/
- US /ˈmæləpɹɑpˌɪzəm/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-malapropism.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of malapropism
- malapropisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does malapropism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar-sounding one.
The script employed malapropism to great effect.
- 2
An instance of such use.
The translator matched every malapropism in the original with one from his own language.
noun
- 1
rareRare form of malapropism.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Malapropism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense the blundering use of a similar-sounding expression:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | abus de langage, malapropisme, impropriété |
| German | Wörtervertauschung, Wortverwechslung, Verballhornung, Malapropismus |
| Spanish | gazapo, malapropismo, yerro |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does malapropism come from?
From the name of Mrs. Malaprop, a character in the play The Rivals (1775) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan + -ism. As dramatic characters in English comic plays of this time often had allusive names, it is likely that Sheridan fashioned the name from malapropos (“inappropriate; inappropriately”), from French mal à propos. Mrs. Malaprop is a classic example of a familiar comedic character archetype who unintentionally substitutes inappropriate but like-sounding words that take on a ludicrous meaning when used incorrectly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).