Recently, I wrote about how the turkey bird is mistakenly named for the country Turkey. It's an example of a misnomer. A misnomer is a name that is incorrect, unsuitable, or misleading for the thing it refers to.
Misnomers generally occur for one of three reasons:
Scientific Reclassification: We learned more about the item (e.g., biology) after it was already named.
Historical Changes: The object changed, but the name stayed the same (e.g., "tin" foil is now aluminum).
Foreign Origin Errors: The name was based on a misunderstanding of where the item came from. Such is the case for the turkey bird.
Other common examples
- Peanuts are not nuts; they are legumes (related to beans and peas).
- Lead pencils are a misnomer because pencils have never contained lead. The core is a mixture of graphite and clay. But when graphite was discovered, it was mistaken for a form of lead.
- Koala bears are not bears; they are marsupials (pouched mammals).
- Neither jellyfish nor starfish is a fish. Biologists prefer "sea jellies" and "sea stars" because fish are vertebrates with gills, while these are invertebrates.
- Your "funny bone" isn't even a bone. It is the ulnar nerve running against the humerus bone. Humerus and humorous mix to describe that "funny" sensation when the nerve is being pinched.
- Fireflies are beetles, not flies.
A cute koala - but not a bear
