Meronymy (Noun)
Meaning
The semantic relation that holds between a part and the whole.
Classification
Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas.
Examples
- The semantic relationship between "fingers" and "hand" is a good example of meronymy, where fingers are a part of the hand.
- Meronymy explains why "rooms" is considered a part of a "house".
- In linguistics, meronymy refers to the part-whole relationship that exists between words like "tires" and "car".
- A teacher trying to explain that a "student" is a part of a "class" would be illustrating meronymy.
- A relation between "players" and "team" would also demonstrate meronymy in this sense.