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CLASSES OF WORDS

acronym

A word formed from the initial letter or letters of each word in a set of words.

Examples:

  • NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • radar - RAdio Detecting and Ranging
  • NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • scuba - self contained underwater breating apparatus
• From Greek akros (=point, tip).

antonym

A word opposite in meaning to another word

Example:

  • good and bad
  • fast and slow
  • elated and melancholy
From Greek anti (=against)

aptronym

A person's name that matches it's owner's occupation or character very well (either in fiction or reality)

Examples:
  • arctic explorer Will Snow
  • hairdresser Dan Druff
• From apt (=suitable); coined by Franklin P. Adams.

autoantonym

A word that can take two (or more) opposite meanings;

Examples:
  • fast means "moving quickly" or "fixed firmly in place"
  • overlook means "to watch over carefully" or "to fail to notice"
• From Greek auto (=self) + anti (=against).
• Often hyphenated as auto-antonym.

autonym

1. A word that describes itself
Examples:
  • noun is a noun
  • polysyllabic is polysyllabic
  • abbrv. is an abbreviation
  • word is a word.
2. A person's real name; the opposite of pseudonym.

3. A name by which a social group or race refers to itself.

•From Greek auto (=self).

bacronym

The reverse of producing an acronym; taking a word which already exists and creating a phrase (usually humorous) using the letters of the word as initials

Examples:
  • Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody (BANANA)
  • Guaranteed Overnight Delivery (GOD).
• From back(wards) + acronym.

capitonym

A word which changes its meaning and pronunciation when capitalized

Examples:
  • polish and Polish
  • august and August
  • concord and Concord
• From capital letter

eponym

A person whose name is the source of the name of something.

Examples:

  • Rudolph Diesel is the eponym of the diesel engine
  • General Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881), a Civil war general whose trademark was a bushy beard that extended only along the jawline, is the eponym of the word sideburns

Note: The term eponym is also sometimes used to refer to a word that is derived from a person's name.

Websites for researching eponyms:
• From Greek epo (=on).

exonym

A place name used by foreigners that differs from the name used by natives

Examples:
  • Londres is the French exonym for London
  • Germany is an exonym because Germans call it Deutschland.
• From Greek exo (=outside).

heteronym

One of two (or more) words that have the same spelling, but different meaning, and sometimes different pronunciation too. (Heteronyms that are pronounced differently are also heterophones.)

Examples:
  • sewer
  • row
  • entrance
  • wind.
A heteronym is a kind of homonym.

homograph

A word with the same spelling as another word, whether or not pronounced alike

Examples:

  • pen (a writing instrument) vs. pen (an enclosure)
  • bow (and arrow) vs. bow (of a ship)

homonym

A word with different origin and meaning but the same oral or written form as one or more other words

Examples:

  • bear (an animal) vs. bear (to support) vs. bare (exposed)
Homonyms include homophones and homographs.

homophone

A word with different origin and meaning but the same pronunciation as another word, whether or not spelled alike

Example:

  • hair and hare

hypernym

A word that has a more general meaning than another

Examples:
  • in the relationship between chair and furniture, furniture is a hypernym
  • in the relationship between horse and animal, animal is a hypernym.
• From Greek hyper (=over).

hyponym

A word that has a more specific meaning than another

Examples:
  • in the relationship between chair and furniture, chair is a hyponym
  • in the relationship between horse and animal, horse is a hyponym

meronym

1. A word that refers to a part of what another word refers to

  • in the relationship between leg and ankle, ankle is a meronym
  • in the relationship between brim and hat, brim is a meronym.
2. A term midway between two opposites
Examples:
  • flat between convex and concave
  • present between past and future.
• From Greek meros (=part).

metonym

A word designates something by the name of something associated with it

Examples:
  • the Crown referring to the monarchy
  • the bottle referring to alcohol
  • the White House for the US executive branch.
• From Greek meta (=change).

metronym

A name derived from the name of one's mother, or another female ancestor.

From Greek metros (=mother).

oronym

A string of words which is homophonic with another string of words

Examples:
  • ice cream and I scream
  • mint spy and mince pie

paronym

A word from the same root, and usually a similar pronunciation, as another;

Example:
  • beautiful and beauteous.
• From Greek para (=beside).

patronym

A name derived from the name of one's father, or another male ancestor.

• From Greek pater (=father).

pseudonym

An assumed name, especially by an author.

Examples:
  • Mark Twain is a pseudonym for Samuel Clemens.
  • Theodore Geisel used the pseudonym of Dr. Seuss.
  • Eric Arthur Blair wrote the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four under the pseudonym George Orwell.
• From Greek pseudo (=false).

retronym

An adjective-noun pairing generated by a change in the meaning of the base noun, usually as a result of technological advance

Examples:
  • watch became pocket watch due to introduction of wrist watch
  • pen became fountain pen due to introduction of ball-point pen
From Greek retro (=backward); coined by Frank Mankiewicz.

synonym

One of two or more words in a language that have similar meanings

Example:

  • answer and respond

tautonym

1. A word composed of two identical parts

Examples:
  • pawpaw
  • yo-yo
  • tutu
  • bye-bye
2. In biological nomenclature, a taxonomic name in which the genus and species names are identical

Examples:
  • puffinus puffinus (manx shearwater)
  • apus apus (common swift)
• From Greek taut (=same)

toponym

1. A place name

Examples:
  • London
  • Mount Everest

2. A word derived from a place name

Examples:
  • champagne from Champagne in France
  • cashmere from Kashmir in India.
• From Greek topos (=place).

POETIC ELEMENTS

alliteration

The repetition of of initial vowels or consonants at the beginning of words (e.g., winter wind, slurp and soul, or omit and open.

amphibrach

Array

amphimacer

Array

anapest

a three-syllable foot with the stress on the third.

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