mishear

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪsˈhɪə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Verb

mishear (third-person singular simple present mishears, present participle mishearing, simple past and past participle misheard)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To hear wrongly.

   I misheard when she asked for mints, and gave her mince instead.

   • 1883, Meeds Tuthill, The Civil Polity of the United States Considered in Its Theory and Practice, page 240:

     And if any mishear or misutter it, even that also serves, since it warns.

   • 1996 November 23, Caryn James, “From Hero To Heroin And Back”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     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.

   • 2006 November 18, “Feedback”, in New Scientist‎^[2], archived from the original on 24 May 2016, page 218:

     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.

2. To misunderstand. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Translations

to hear wrongly

• Dutch: misverstaan (nl), verkeerd verstaan , ^{(please verify)} slecht horen
• German: sich verhören (de)
• Greek: παρακούω (el) (parakoúo)
• Polish: przesłyszeć się pf
• Russian: ослышаться (ru) (oslyšatʹsja)
• Swedish: missuppfatta (sv)
• Turkish: yanlış duymak

to understand wrongly

• Dutch: slecht begrijpen , verkeerd begrijpen
• German: missverstehen (de), sich verhören (de)
• Swedish: missuppfatta (sv), missförstå (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} salah dengar
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 聞き間違う (ききまちがう, kiki-machigau)

See also

• lapsus auris

References

• “mishear”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “mishear”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• meharis, mesirah, rameish