Spooner
/ˈspuːnər/noun
A person who makes a spoonerism, or a playful speech error in which initial sounds are swapped.
Did you know?The term comes from the Reverend W. A. Spooner, whose famous speech slips made his name into a lasting English word for verbal mix-ups.
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
spon
“a chip of wood; later, a spoon”
Middle English
ME
spone
“a spoon”
19th Century
English
Spooner
“the surname of W. A. Spooner, an Oxford clergyman known for speech errors”
19th Century
English
spoonerism
“a transposition of initial sounds in words”
Modern English
English
spooner
“a person who makes spoonerisms”