Kimono

Kimono, the name of a long Japanese garment with wide sleeves, also applied to various derivative designs, is spelled thus. Garner 2002 says it "is frequently misspelled kimona". Kimono is pronounced in RP with the stress on the second syllable: 'kim-OH-no' (IPA: /kɪ(or ə) ˈməʊ nəʊ/), although the alternative with the stress on the first syllable and the second vowel reduced to a shwa is often to be heard: 'KIM-oh-no', /ˈkɪ mə nəʊ/.

Etymological note: kimono is the transliteration of a Japanese word formed from ki- 'wear' and mono ' thing'. In its native Japanese, the plural is the unaltered kimono; in English, the convention is to use the regular plural form kimonos.

This page was suggested by the list of "25 of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language", in the article on "spelling" in Garner, Bryan A., The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, Oxford University Press, 2000; on line at Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press, under licence to Hull University. 18 July 2006. <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t26.e2017>. Although the list claims "25 of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language", it may reflect the American language of the book rather than AWE's experience of English teaching in Britain. Users of AWE may find more use in our categories spelling and spelling common errors.

AWE shares the confidence of the original article: "Naturally, [the commonly misspelled words] are spelled correctly here".