nonsense word

English

Etymology

From nonsense +‎ word.

Noun

nonsense word (plural nonsense words)

1. A neologised word that does not have a given meaning, or that has been invented without any etymological sense.
   • 1983, Michael E. Adelstein, Wendell Keats Sparrow, Business communications:

     George Bernard Shaw's classic joke about English spelling is that his nonsense word ghoti should be pronounced fish. He explained: gh = like the gh in cough = fo = like the o in women = i ti = like the ti in nation = sh ghoti = fish.

Translations

type of word

• Finnish: pseudosana

See also

• neologism
• non-word
• nonce word
• protologism
• pseudoword