Many people in our country make the word rhyme with ‘love’, ‘dove’ (the bird) and ‘glove’. What is the correct pronunciation of the word ‘stove’? The honeymoon period between the coach and captain lasted a month. This is often referred to as the ‘honeymoon period’. Nowadays, the word has taken on an additional meaning it is being used to refer to the early stages of any relationship – not just between a husband and wife - where both parties are exceedingly happy with each other.

The honey gave them a taste of how ‘sweet’ marriage could be – at least during the initial stages – and the ‘moon’ was an indication of how the affection between the couple would wax and wane during the course of their marriage. Both the groom and the bride were expected to drink a glassful every day for the first thirty days. In the old days, when a man got married, he received a bottle of mead – an alcoholic drink made from honey - as part of his dowry. For several hundred years before that, ‘honeymoon’ was used to refer to the first month after marriage it had nothing to do with the newly married couple having a good time in another town, city or country. This meaning of the word, however, came into existence only in the late 18th century. This holiday could be within or outside the country. The word is mostly used now to refer to the holiday that a newly married couple go on immediately after the wedding. Nowadays, whenever we hear the word ‘honeymoon’, places like Switzerland, Maldives, Paris, etc. ‘Honeymoon’ consists of two words – honey and moon – and it has been part of the English language for several hundred years. What is the origin of the word ‘honeymoon’? In everyday conversation, however, people do not always maintain this subtle distinction between the two words. Here are a few examples of homonyms: right (opposite of left), right (correct) mean (average), mean (not nice) and bark (tree), bark (dog). The term is used to refer to words which have the same spelling and pronunciation, but have a different meaning.

The ‘nym’ in homonym, comes from the Greek ‘onoma’ meaning ‘name’. Weather/whether, due/dew and right/write are examples of homophones. A homophone, therefore, is a word that sounds like another word, but the two are spelt differently, and have very different meanings.

‘Homophone’ comes from the Greek ‘homo’ meaning same or similar, and ‘phone’ meaning sound. This is one way of pronouncing the two words. The stress in both words is on the first syllable – HOM-e-phone, HOM-e-nim. The first syllable in both words rhymes with ‘bomb’ and ‘mom’, while the ‘o’ in the second syllable sounds like the ‘a’ in ‘china’. What is the difference between ‘homophone’ and ‘homonym’?

Honey select party english patches