noun · 3 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.
General-American:/mɪˈtɑnəmi/
Received-Pronunciation:/mɪˈtɒnəmi/
General-American:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɒnəmi
1
noun
Meaning 1
The use of a single characteristic or part of an object, concept or phenomenon to identify the entire object, concept, phenomenon or a related object.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, rhetoric, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: trope, figure of speech
2
noun
Meaning 2
A metonym.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in `they counted heads')
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: trope, figure of speech, figure, image
Narrower terms: metalepsis
History
Etymology
From Late Latin metonymia, from Ancient Greek μετωνυμίᾱ (metōnumíā, “change of name”), from μετά (metá, “other”) + ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).
Across languages
Translations
46 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
metonimie
— figure of speech
Armenian:
փոխանունություն
(pʻoxanunutʻyun)
— figure of speech
Armenian:
մետոնիմիա
(metonimia)
— figure of speech
Azerbaijani:
metonimiya
— figure of speech
Catalan:
metonímia
— figure of speech
Chinese Cantonese:
借代
(ze3 doi6)
— figure of speech
Chinese Mandarin:
換喻 /换喻
(huànyù)
— figure of speech
Chinese Mandarin:
轉喻 /转喻
(zhuǎnyù)
— figure of speech
Czech:
metonymie
— figure of speech
Danish:
metonymi
— figure of speech
Dutch:
metonymia
— figure of speech
Finnish:
metonymia
— figure of speech
French:
métonymie
— figure of speech
Galician:
metonimia
— figure of speech
Georgian:
მეტონიმია
(meṭonimia)
— figure of speech
German:
Metonymie
— figure of speech
German:
Namenvertauschung
— figure of speech
Greek:
μετωνυμία
(metonymía)
— figure of speech
Hungarian:
metonímia
— figure of speech
Hungarian:
érintkezésen alapuló névátvitel
— figure of speech
Icelandic:
nafnhvörf
— figure of speech
Icelandic:
merkingarskipti
— figure of speech
Irish:
meatonaime
— figure of speech
Italian:
metonimia
— figure of speech
Japanese:
換喩法
(kan'yuhō)
— figure of speech
Japanese:
換喩
(kan'yu)
— figure of speech
Korean:
환유
(hwanyu)
— figure of speech
Latin:
metonymia
— figure of speech
Norwegian Bokmål:
talemåte
— figure of speech
Norwegian Bokmål:
metonymi
— figure of speech
Polish:
metonimia
— figure of speech
Portuguese:
metonímia
— figure of speech
Romanian:
metonimie
— figure of speech
Russian:
метони́мия
(metonímija)
— figure of speech
