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An idiosyncratic phonetic substitution of a word or phrase for one that sounds similar, in which the speaker invents an intuitively plausible alternative semantic explanation.
Coined in September 2003 by linguist Geoffrey Pullum on the collaborative linguistics website Language Log. Pullum was inspired by an anecdote from fellow linguist Mark Liberman concerning a woman who consistently substituted the phrase 'egg corn' for 'acorn': she reasoned that acorns are egg-shaped seeds that feed squirrels like grains of corn! Unlike a malapropism (which creates nonsensical blunders like 'an allegory on the Nile'), an eggcorn preserves meaning and introduces a logical, rationalized connection in the speaker's mind. Common contemporary English eggcorns include 'damp squid' (for damp squib), 'peak one's interest' (for pique), 'toe the line' written as 'tow the line', and 'for all intensive purposes' (for for all intents and purposes).
Test any English word to explore acoustic reanalysis and eggcorns:
Verified English words exemplifying eggcorn with Scrabble scores
Linguistic definitions, etymological origins, and tournament usage
A typo is an accidental mechanical keying slip. An eggcorn is a deep cognitive reanalysis: the speaker genuinely believes their substituted word makes logical semantic sense (e.g., imagining a ship 'towing the line').