# misnomer

> English word · Noun · IPA /(ˌ)mɪsˈnəʊmə/ · frequency rank #40,341

## Definitions
1. A mistake in the naming of a person or place; a misidentification.
2. An incorrect use of a term, especially one which is misleading; a misname.
3. A term which is misleading, even if firmly established, technically correct, or both.
4. Something which is asserted not to be true; a mistaken belief, a falsehood, a myth.

## Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English misnoumer (“(law) mistaken identification of a person; plea based on such misidentification”), from Anglo-Norman mesnomer, a noun use of Anglo-Norman mesnomer, mesnommer, and Old French mesnomer, mesnommer (“to name incorrectly”), from mes- (prefix meaning ‘badly, wrongly’) + nomer, nommer (“to name”) (from Latin nōmināre, the present active infinitive of nōminō (“to name”), from nōmen (“name”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)).
The verb is derived from the noun.

## Easily confused with
- **monomer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/misnomer-vs-monomer)

## Common misspellings (12)
`imsnomer`, `minsomer`, `misnmoer`, `misnnomer`, `misnoemr`, `misnomerr`, `misnommer`, `misnomre`, `misonmer`, `missnomer`, `mmisnomer`, `msinomer`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/misnomer