Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
This error occurs repeatedly in professional texts (e.g. “insipient cancer,” “insipient decay,” etc.). Many Online forums include entries from confused people who, upon reading about, say, “insipient heart disease,” try unsuccessfully to find a definition that makes sense. Imagine how perplexing it can be when the only definition that can be found for “insipient” is “stupid or foolish.” The proper word for such usages is “incipient”—“Beginning to be, or to show itself; commencing; initial; as, the incipient stage of a fever.” It is the adjective form of the noun “inception.” Same pronounciation; but, when written, quite a difference.
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Probably similar to the misuse of “concensus” for the correct “consensus”.
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