Dictionary

mishear en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /mɪsˈhɪə(ɹ)/

Etymology

From Middle English misheren, from Old English mishȳran, mishīeran (“to hear amiss, not listen to, disobey”), equivalent to mis- + hear.

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive) To hear wrongly.
   • I misheard when she asked for mints, and gave her mince instead.
   • When a slickly handsome drug dealer named Legrand (Michael Beach, in the film's most seductive performance), first meets the teen-ager on the playground, he mishears the name Manigault. "Did he say Nanny Goat?" Legrand asks, explaining the nickname in one quick, witty stroke. 1996 November 23, Caryn James, “From Hero To Heroin And Back”, in The New York Times:
   • Our report of a relative who, as a child, thought the classic version of the Lord's Prayer began "Our father, a chart in heaven, Harold be thy name" stated that this type of mistake is known as an eggcorn. A number of readers have suggested that instances like this in which a whole phrase rather than just a word is misheard, should be called mondegreens rather than eggcorns. 2006 November 18, “Feedback”, in New Scientist, archived from the original on 24 May 2016, page 218:
   • And if any mishear or misutter it, even that also serves, since it warns. 1883, Meeds Tuthill, The Civil Polity of the United States Considered in Its Theory and Practice, page 240:
2. To misunderstand.

Forms

Deriveds

mishearer

Relateds

lapsus auris

Translations (16)

nl misverstaan (to hear wrongly) · sv missuppfatta (to hear wrongly) · nl verkeerd verstaan (to hear wrongly) · el παρακούω (to hear wrongly) · sv missuppfatta (to understand wrongly) · pt ouvir errado (to hear wrongly) · ru ослышаться (to hear wrongly) · es trasoír (to hear wrongly) · pl przesłyszeć się (to hear wrongly) · nl verkeerd begrijpen (to understand wrongly) · sv missförstå (to understand wrongly) · de sich verhören (to hear wrongly) · tr yanlış duymak (to hear wrongly) · nl slecht begrijpen (to understand wrongly) · de missverstehen (to understand wrongly) · de sich verhören (to understand wrongly)