hyponym
nounUK /ˈhaɪpəʊ.nɪm/ · CA, US /ˈhaɪ.poʊ.nɪm/
Etymology From hyp- + -onym or hypo- + -nym; from Ancient Greek ὑπό (hupó, “under”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma) ("appellation"), a Doric specific dialectal form of ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).
1
Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences, Semantics A more specific term; a subordinate grouping word or phrase; a term designating a subclass of another more general class described by the given word.
- The words “dog”, “cat”, and “horse” are hyponyms of “animal” because dogs, cats, and horses are types of animal.
- Woman itself has as other hyponyms, sculptress and waitress, but is itself a hyponym of adult.1977, Ruth Kempson, Semantic Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 86:
- Derived terms
- co-hyponym, cohyponym, cohyponymous, hyponymic, hyponymous, hyponymy
- Related terms
- category, class, kind, instance, specialization, subcategory, subdivision, subset, subtype, type, is-a