Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

crash blossom

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.57 in modern English

Syllables
crash blos-som
IPA
21
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A sentence, often a news headline, that is subject to incorrect interpretation due to syntactic and/or lexical ambiguity.

Example Sentences

Etymology

From a headline, "Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms". The author's intended interpretation is that the violinist (Diana Yukawa), who has blossomed, is linked to a JAL plane crash (since her father was on the plane). However, through syntactic ambiguity, the sentence can also be interpreted to mean that the violinist was linked to something called a "crash blossom".

Inflected Forms

crash blossoms (plural)

Questions

What does crash blossom mean?
A sentence, often a news headline, that is subject to incorrect interpretation due to syntactic and/or lexical ambiguity.
Where does crash blossom come from?
From a headline, "Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms". The author's intended interpretation is that the violinist (Diana Yukawa), who has blossomed, is linked to a JAL plane crash (since her father was on the plane). However, through syntactic ambiguity, the sentence can also be interpreted to mean that the violinist was linked to something called a "crash blossom".

How to pronounce crash blossom

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “crash blossom”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “crash blossom”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “crash blossom” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.