Standard Lemma guide

hypernym

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈhaɪpənɪm/
  • homophone: hyponym
  • Canada, US: /ˈhaɪpɚnɪm/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪm

1

noun

Meaning 1

A superordinate word or phrase; a term whose referents form a set which includes as a subset the referents of a subordinate term—as, for example, insect (being a hypernym) for ant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences, semantics

Examples

  • “Musical instrument” is a hypernym of “guitar” because a guitar is a musical instrument: a guitar belongs to a class or type of musical instruments.
  • Hypernyms of “dog” and “cat” include “mammal”, “homeotherm”, “carnivore”, and “quadruped”.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hyperonym, blanket term, genus, superordinate, umbrella term

Antonyms: hyponym, species, subordinate

Broader terms: term, word

2

noun

Meaning 2

a word that is more generic than a given word

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: superordinate, superordinate word

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: word

History

Etymology

From hyper- (“over”) + -nym (“name”). From Ancient Greek roots; compare Latinate “superordinate term”.

Across languages

Translations

43 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: սեռանիշ (seṙaniš) — superordinate grouping word
  • Bulgarian: хипероним (hiperonim) — superordinate grouping word
  • Catalan: hiperònim — superordinate grouping word
  • Chinese Mandarin: 上位詞 /上位词 (shàngwèicí) — superordinate grouping word
  • Czech: hyperonymum — superordinate grouping word
  • Danish: hypernym — superordinate grouping word
  • Danish: overbegreb — superordinate grouping word
  • Danish: fællesbetegnelse — superordinate grouping word
  • Dutch: hyperoniem — superordinate grouping word
  • Dutch: koepelwoord — superordinate grouping word
  • Finnish: yläkäsite — superordinate grouping word
  • Finnish: hyperonyymi — superordinate grouping word
  • French: hyperonyme — superordinate grouping word
  • Galician: hiperónimo — superordinate grouping word
  • Georgian: ჰიპერნიმი (hiṗernimi) — superordinate grouping word
  • German: Oberbegriff — superordinate grouping word
  • German: Hyperonym — superordinate grouping word
  • Greek: υπερώνυμο (yperónymo) — superordinate grouping word
  • Hungarian: hiperonima — superordinate grouping word
  • Hungarian: fölérendelt fogalom/szó/név/kifejezés — superordinate grouping word
  • Icelandic: yfirheiti — superordinate grouping word
  • Indonesian: hipernim — superordinate grouping word
  • Irish: scáth-théarma — superordinate grouping word
  • Italian: iperonimo — superordinate grouping word
  • Japanese: 上位語 (jōigo) — superordinate grouping word
  • Korean: 상위어 (sang'wieo) — superordinate grouping word
  • Northern Kurdish: hîpernîm — superordinate grouping word
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hyperonym — superordinate grouping word
  • Norwegian Bokmål: overbegrep — superordinate grouping word
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: hyperonym — superordinate grouping word
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: overbegrep — superordinate grouping word
  • Polish: hiperonim — superordinate grouping word
  • Portuguese: hiperónimo — superordinate grouping word
  • Portuguese: hiperônimo — superordinate grouping word
  • Russian: гиперо́ним (giperónim) — superordinate grouping word
  • Serbo-Croatian: хиперо̀нӣм — superordinate grouping word
  • Serbo-Croatian: hiperònīm — superordinate grouping word
  • Slovak: hyperonymum — superordinate grouping word
  • Spanish: hiperónimo — superordinate grouping word
  • Swedish: hyperonym — superordinate grouping word
  • Swedish: överbegrepp — superordinate grouping word
  • Turkish: şemsiye terim — superordinate grouping word
  • Vietnamese: từ thượng vị — superordinate grouping word