| folk etymology | |
| —n | |
| 1. | the gradual change in the form of a word through the influence of a more familiar word or phrase with which it becomes associated, as for example sparrow-grass for asparagus |
| 2. | a popular but erroneous conception of the origin of a word |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |