spoonerism
noun
spoo·ner·ism
ˈspü-nə-ˌri-zəm 
: a transposition of usually initial sounds of two or more words (as in tons of soil for sons of toil)
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What is the origin of spoonerism?
Poor William Archibald Spooner! That British clergyman and educator, who lived from 1844 to 1930, often had to speak in public, but he was a nervous man and his tongue frequently got tangled up. He would say things like "a blushing crow" when he meant "a crushing blow." Spooner's sound reversals became the stuff of legend—and undoubtedly gave his listeners many a laugh. By the end of the 19th century, his name had inspired the term spoonerism, which lives on to this day.
Examples of spoonerism in a Sentence
the spoonerism “tons of soil” for “sons of toil”
Recent Examples on the Web
These switcheroos have become known as spoonerisms.
—
Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 May 2024
The Marty Peters and his spoonerism friends were great, but Delta Funk blew my socks off.
—Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 4 Mar. 2022
This week: Write an original Q-A joke featuring a spoonerism, the transposition of the beginnings of different words, as in the entries above from our 1995 contest.
—Washington Post, 18 Nov. 2021
Three phrases that contain words whose first letters are M and W have those letters flipped to make a spoonerism-like, punny phrase.
—New York Times, 6 May 2020
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 May 2024
The Marty Peters and his spoonerism friends were great, but Delta Funk blew my socks off.
—Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 4 Mar. 2022
This week: Write an original Q-A joke featuring a spoonerism, the transposition of the beginnings of different words, as in the entries above from our 1995 contest.
—Washington Post, 18 Nov. 2021
Three phrases that contain words whose first letters are M and W have those letters flipped to make a spoonerism-like, punny phrase.
—New York Times, 6 May 2020
Cite this Entry
“Spoonerism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spoonerism. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
spoonerism
noun
spoo·ner·ism
ˈspü-nə-ˌriz-əm
: a mixing up of usually the initial sounds of two or more words (as in "tons of soil" for "sons of toil")
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