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A misnomer is a name that is incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Misnomers often arise because something was named long before its correct nature was known, or because an earlier form of something has been replaced by a later form to which the name no longer suitably applies. A misnomer may also be a word that is used incorrectly or misleadingly. The word "misnomer" does not mean " misunderstanding" or " popular misconception", and a number of misnomers remain in common usage — which is to say that a word being a misnomer does not necessarily make ''usage'' of the word incorrect.


Sources of misnomers

* An older name being retained after the thing itself has changed (e.g., tin can, mince meat pie, steamroller, tin foil, clothes iron, digital darkroom). This is essentially a metaphorical extension with the name of the older item standing for anything filling the same role. * Transference of a well-known product brand name into a genericized trademark (e.g.,
Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...
for photocopy,
Kleenex Kleenex is a brand name primarily known for their line of facial tissues. Often used informally as a genericized trademark for facial tissue, ''Kleenex'' is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark applied to products made in 78 countries. The ...
for tissues, or Jell-O for
gelatin dessert Gelatin desserts are desserts made with a sweetened and flavoured processed collagen product (gelatin), which makes the dessert "set" from a liquid to a soft elastic solid gel. This kind of dessert was first recorded as "jelly" by Hannah Glas ...
). * '' Pars pro toto'' (i.e., the name of a part being applied to the whole). ''
Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...
'' is often used to refer to the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, while it is actually only a part of that country. * Referring to the suburbs of a
metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...
by the name of the biggest city in the metropolis. * A name based on a similarity in a particular aspect (e.g., "shooting stars" look like falling stars but are actually meteors). * A difference between popular and technical meanings of a term. A
koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...
"bear" (see below) superficially looks and acts like a
bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...
, but is quite distinct and unrelated. Fireflies fly like
flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...
, and ladybugs are like bugs. Botanically, peanuts are not nuts. The technical sense is often cited as "correct", but this is a matter of context. * Ambiguity. A parkway is generally a
road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...
with park-like landscaping, not a place to park. Such a term may confuse those unfamiliar with the language. * Association of a thing with a place other than its origin. Panama hats originate from
Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
, but came to be associated with the building of the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
. * Naming particular to the originator's world view. * An unfamiliar name – perhaps foreign – or technical term re-analyzed as something more familiar (see folk etymology). * Anachronisms, juxtaposed terms from different time periods, creating chronological inconsistency.


Examples


Older name retained

* The "lead" in pencils is made of
graphite Graphite () is a Crystallinity, crystalline allotrope (form) of the element carbon. It consists of many stacked Layered materials, layers of graphene, typically in excess of hundreds of layers. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable ...
and
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
, not
lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
; graphite was once believed to be lead ore. The graphite and clay mix is known as ''plumbago'', meaning "lead ore" in Latin. * Blackboards can be black, green, red, blue, or brown. * Sticks of chalk are no longer made of chalk, but of gypsum. * Tin foil is almost always made of
aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
, whereas " tin cans" made for the storage of food products are made from steel with a thin tin plating. In both cases, tin was the original metal. * Telephone numbers are referred to as being "dialed" although rotary phones are now rare. * In
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
, the clubs referred to as woods were once made of wood but are now usually made of metal. The term ''anachronym'' refers to this type of misnomer. ''"Anachronym"'' should not be confused with '' anacronyms'', which refers to words (such as ''
laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...
'', '' sonar'' and '' scuba'') with acronymic origin but which are now used syntactically as words in their own right.


Similarity of appearance

* Head cheese is a
meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...
product. *A horned toad is a lizard. *A velvet ant is a wasp.


Difference between common and technical meanings

*
Koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...
"bears" are marsupials not closely related to the
bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...
family, Ursidae. The term "koala" is preferred in their native Australia. *
Jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...
and
starfish Starfish or sea stars are Star polygon, star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class (biology), class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to brittle star, ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to ...
are only very distantly related to
fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
, being in separate phyla. The gelatinous structure of jellyfish is similar to
gelatin dessert Gelatin desserts are desserts made with a sweetened and flavoured processed collagen product (gelatin), which makes the dessert "set" from a liquid to a soft elastic solid gel. This kind of dessert was first recorded as "jelly" by Hannah Glas ...
. * A peanut is not a nut in the botanical sense, but a legume. A
coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
is not a botanical nut but a drupe. * Fruits that are not botanically considered berries include strawberries, bayberries, raspberries, and blackberries.


Association with place other than that which one may assume

* The guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus'') originated in the
Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
, not
Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
, and is a
rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...
unrelated to pigs. *
French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...
s originated in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, not
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. * Chinese checkers originated in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
.


Other

* Although dry cleaning does not involve water, it does involve the use of liquid solvents. * The "funny bone" is not a
bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...
—the phrase refers to the ulnar nerve. * A quantum leap is properly an instantaneous change that may be large or small. In
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
, it is a change of an electron from one energy level to another. In common usage the term is often used to mean a large, abrupt change. * " Tennis elbow" (formally ''lateral epicondylitis'') does not necessarily result from playing
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
.


See also

* Oxymoron *
Metonymy Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word " suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such as sales ...


References


External links

* {{Personal names English-language idioms Semantics