Cacoepy
/ˌkækəˈiːpi/noun
Bad or incorrect pronunciation of words.
Did you know?Cacoepy is built from Greek kakos (“bad”) + epos (“word, speech”), and that same epos-root also lives in epic, meaning a word so old it once meant simply “spoken.”
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
kakos + epos
“bad + word, speech”
Late Greek
Greek
kakoēpia
“bad pronunciation or faulty speech”
19th Century
English
cacoepy
“bad pronunciation”
Modern English
English
cacoepy
“incorrect pronunciation of words”
Explore more surprising origins