Spoonerism
A spoonerism is a slip where the opening sounds of two words trade places — 'shoving leopard' for 'loving shepherd'.
Full definition of Spoonerism →:: COMPARE ::
SpoonerismvsMalapropism
The short answer
A spoonerism swaps sounds between words — the vocabulary is correct and the phonology is scrambled. A malapropism swaps a whole word for a similar-sounding wrong one — the phonology is fine and the vocabulary is wrong. Phonology versus lexicon.
Side by side
| Aspect | Spoonerism | Malapropism |
|---|---|---|
| What's wrong | Sound order | Word choice |
| Speaker knows the word | Yes | No |
| Result | Two new words | One wrong word |
| Named after | A real person | A fictional one |
What each one means
Malapropism
Using the wrong word in place of a similar-sounding one, with comic effect — a pineapple of politeness, dance a flamingo.
Full definition of Malapropism →