slip of the pen
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A minor writing or typing error
Literally: a small mistake made while writing
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
(rushing) Two possible causes for the error here — one, a simple omission, a slip of the pen, perhaps, because the writer paused in the middle of the word.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Equivalents & related
Common questions
What does “slip of the pen” mean?
A minor writing or typing error Literally: a small mistake made while writing
Is “slip of the pen” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
What is the closest equivalent?
“viết nhịu” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.