spoonerism
/ˈspuː.nəɹˌɪ.zəm/
"spoonerism" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“spoonerism” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A play on words on a phrase in which the initial (usually consonantal) sounds of two or more of the main words are transposed.
Corpus desk
Index EN-spoonerism · spoonerism · English
spoonerism · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | spoonerism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈspuː.nəɹˌɪ.zəm/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “spoonerism” in English
Rare enough to double-check
spoonerism is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈspuː.nəɹˌɪ.zəm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A play on words on a phrase in which the initial (usually consonantal) sounds of two or more of the main words are transposed.".
No misspelling variants are generated for spoonerism in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Spooner + -ism, named after Oxford don Reverend W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), who is supposed to have habitually made such slip-ups. The correct English form is spoonerism, spelled S-P-O-O-N-E-R-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1A play on words on a phrase in which the initial (usually consonantal) sounds of two or more of the main words are transposed.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how spoonerism appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Undergraduates at Oxford University were playfully fond of Spooner, whom they nicknamed "the Spoo". They also coined the term "spoonerism" around 1885, after Spooner had been a fellow at New College for almost twenty years. By 1892, his reputation for absentmindedness was well known; students came to New College expecting to hear a spoonerism.
Etymology
From Spooner + -ism, named after Oxford don Reverend W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), who is supposed to have habitually made such slip-ups.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.