Standard Lemma guide

meronym

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.

  • /ˈmɛɹənɪm/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A term used to denote a thing that is a part of something else.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, philosophy, sciences, semantics

Examples

  • The word "leaf" is a meronym of the word "tree".

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: partonym

Antonyms: holonym

2

noun

Meaning 2

a word that names a part of a larger whole

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • `brim' and `crown' are meronyms of `hat'

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: part name

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: word

History

Etymology

From mero- + -onym, from Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “part”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma, “name”).

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: meroniem — word denoting part of whole
  • Bulgarian: мероним (meronim) — word denoting part of whole
  • Catalan: merònim — word denoting part of whole
  • Chinese Mandarin: 分體詞 /分体词 (fèntǐcí) — word denoting part of whole
  • Danish: meronym — word denoting part of whole
  • Finnish: meronyymi — word denoting part of whole
  • Finnish: osakäsite — word denoting part of whole
  • French: méronyme — word denoting part of whole
  • German: Meronym — word denoting part of whole
  • German: Teilbegriff — word denoting part of whole
  • German: Bestandsbegriff — word denoting part of whole
  • Greek: μερώνυμο (merónymo) — word denoting part of whole
  • Hungarian: meronima — word denoting part of whole
  • Indonesian: meronimi — word denoting part of whole
  • Italian: meronimo — word denoting part of whole
  • Polish: meronim — word denoting part of whole
  • Portuguese: merónimo — word denoting part of whole
  • Portuguese: merônimo — word denoting part of whole
  • Russian: меро́ним (merónim) — word denoting part of whole
  • Spanish: merónimo — word denoting part of whole
  • Swedish: meronym — word denoting part of whole
  • Vietnamese: từ phân — word denoting part of whole
  • Vietnamese: phân danh — word denoting part of whole