Identify the misspelt word

Correct — C. The standard spelling is onomatopoeia, ending -poeia: p, o, e, i, a.

The option prints -piea: the o after p is missing and the e and i are swapped → option (c).

The ending is Greek poiein, 'to make'. Onomatopoeia is 'name-making', a word formed from the sound it names, such as buzz or sizzle.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Apothegm — Apothegm is correctly spelt: a short, pithy saying. Dictionaries also give the longer form apophthegm, and both spellings are standard.
• (b)
  Esoterica — Esoterica is correctly spelt: a noun for things of esoteric interest, known to a select few. It is built on esoteric.
• (d)
  Sesquipedalian — Sesquipedalian is correctly spelt: given to long words, or long-worded. It comes from Latin sesquipedalis, 'a foot and a half long'.

A misspelt-word item hides one error among correct words, and here the correct words are rare. Apothegm, Esoterica and Sesquipedalian look strange but are standard spellings.

The error is in onomatopoeia, whose tricky part is the vowel run at the end: -oeia, from Greek poiein, 'to make'.

An unfamiliar word is not the same as a misspelt one. Check the spelling you can verify before suspecting the words you cannot.

Key facts

• Onomatopoeia is spelt o-n-o-m-a-t-o-p-o-e-i-a.
• Onomatopoeia is a word formed from the sound it names, such as buzz, hiss or cuckoo.
• An apothegm (also apophthegm) is a short, pithy saying.
• Sesquipedalian means characterised by long words, from Latin for 'a foot and a half long'.

Common traps

• Marking Apothegm or Sesquipedalian as the error because the word looks unfamiliar
• Reading Onomatopiea at speed, seeing the familiar outline, and missing the vowels at the end

No directly related past PYQ was found.