mondegreen
noun
mon·de·green
ˈmän-də-ˌgrēn 
plural mondegreens
: a word or phrase that results from a mishearing especially of something recited or sung
One of the reasons that "Excuse me while I kiss this guy" substituted for Jimi Hendrix's "Excuse me while I kiss the sky" remains one of the most widely reported mondegreens of all time can be explained in part by frequency. It's much more common to hear of people kissing guys than skies. Expectations, too, play a role. You're much more likely to mishear "Cry Me a River" as "Crimean River" if you've recently been discussing the situation in Ukraine.—
Maria Konnikova
Maria KonnikovaRenaissance dramatists loved mondegreens. Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor," for example, features a whole scene of them, when the innkeeper Mistress Quickly has trouble understanding a Latin lesson and interprets pulcher ("beautiful") as "polecats."—Melissa Mohr
Melissa MohrIncorrectly heard lyrics are called "mondegreens." The word originates with journalist Sylvia Wright, who wrote a column in the 1950s in which she recounted hearing the Scottish folksong The Bonny Earl of Morray. Wright misheard the lyric "Oh, they have slain the Earl o' Morray and laid him on the green" and thought it was "Oh, they have slain the Earl o' Morray and Lady Mondegreen."—Maclean's (Canada)
Maclean's (Canada)Examples of mondegreen in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
These funky musical mishearings even have their own name: mondegreens.
—Popular Science, 23 Jan. 2020
That’s called a mondegreen, when a word or phrase is created after mishearing something said or sung.
—Southern Living, 8 Sep. 2017
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Popular Science, 23 Jan. 2020
That’s called a mondegreen, when a word or phrase is created after mishearing something said or sung.
—Southern Living, 8 Sep. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Mondegreen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mondegreen. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share