Word of the Day : August 21, 2019

misnomer \miss-NOH-mer\ noun

Definition

1 : the misnaming of a person in a legal instrument

2 a : a use of a wrong or inappropriate name

b : a wrong name or inappropriate designation

Did You Know?

What's in a name? Well, in some cases, a name will contain an error, a misunderstanding, or a mislabeling. Historians have long noted that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire. The Battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought on Breed's Hill. And the Pennsylvania Dutch are in fact of German ancestry. For such cases, we have the term misnomer, which comes from the Anglo-French verb mesnomer ("to misname") and ultimately has its roots in nomen, the Latin word for "name."

Aired August 21, 2019

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