What does eggcorn mean?
An eggcorn is a word or phrase that arises when someone mishears an established expression and reshapes it into another form that seems equally sensible — often more vividly so. Familiar examples include 'free reign' for 'free rein', 'card shark' for 'card sharp', and 'deep-seeded' for 'deep-seated'. What distinguishes an eggcorn from a careless error is its plausibility: the substitute words make intuitive sense in context, which is precisely why the new version spreads and persists. The term was coined in 2003 by linguist Geoffrey Pullum on the Language Log blog, inspired by a writer who referred to an oak's acorn as an 'egg corn'. Linguists and editors find eggcorns fascinating because they offer a window into how people process meaning through sound, revealing that many speakers understand idioms by their overall sense rather than their exact wording. The word is neutral to affectionate in tone and appears mainly in writing about language, usage, and editing.
nounA word or phrase that results from a mishearing of an original expression and its reinterpretation into another word or phrase whose elements are semantically plausible — for example 'free reign' for 'free rein' or 'card shark' for 'card sharp'.
- A misheard word or phrase that has been reshaped into a different but semantically plausible form, such as 'old-timers' disease' for 'Alzheimer's disease' or 'deep-seated' rendered as 'deep-seeded'.
"'For all intensive purposes' is one of the most frequently cited eggcorns of the phrase 'for all intents and purposes.'"
"Writing 'escape goat' instead of 'scapegoat' is a classic eggcorn."
"She smiled at her grandfather's affectionate eggcorn, insisting he'd earned the right to call it 'nip it in the butt' if he liked."
Standard pluralization; simply add -s.
"The article catalogued dozens of common eggcorns found across the internet."
The word 'eggcorn' is itself an eggcorn — linguist Geoffrey Pullum coined it in 2003 after spotting someone who genuinely believed an oak nut was called an 'egg corn,' because it looks like an egg sprouting into a tree.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of eggcorn
The term was coined in 2003 by the linguist Geoffrey Pullum in a post on the Language Log blog, prompted by an example of 'acorn' written as 'eggcorn' — a reinterpretation motivated by the nut's egg-like shape and its potential to grow. Pullum proposed 'eggcorn' as a general label for this kind of plausible reshaping of an expression by mishearing, and the coinage quickly gained currency among linguists and language writers. The word is transparently built from English 'egg' plus 'corn', echoing the very error it names, and it has no cognates beyond ordinary English words sharing those roots.
How eggcorn is actually used
The term is used chiefly in discussions of language, linguistics, and editing, and carries no strong connotation of mockery; eggcorns are often described as logical or even poetic reinterpretations rather than mere errors. The label is applied to expressions that are widespread or recurrent, not to a single person's one-off slip.
Easily confused with eggcorn
An acorn is the actual nut of the oak tree, whereas an eggcorn is a misheard word or phrase reshaped into something plausible — the term itself arose from someone reinterpreting 'acorn' as 'eggcorn'.
A mondegreen is specifically a misheard lyric or line of verse, while an eggcorn applies more broadly to any word or phrase reshaped by mishearing.
A malapropism is the mistaken use of a real word in place of a similar-sounding one for comic effect, while an eggcorn involves a reinterpretation that seems logically plausible rather than merely erroneous.