demonym

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δῆμος (dēmos, “people”) + ὄνυμα (onuma, “name”). Possibly coined or revived in 1997 by Paul Dickson of Merriam-Webster in a manner similar to other "nyms".

demo- + -onym

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈdɛmənɪm/

Noun

demonym (plural demonyms)

1. (rare) A name for an inhabitant or native of a specific place that is derived from the name of the place.

   Why is it that people from the United States use American as their demonym?

2. (obsolete) A pseudonym formed of an adjective.

   The Logophile has my favourite demonym, I would write under it if he didn't.

Synonyms

• gentilic

Usage notes

Although demonyms are capitalized in English, they are common nouns, not proper nouns.

Translations

name for an inhabitant or native of a specific place

• Catalan: gentilici (ca) m
• French: gentilé (fr) m, ethnonyme (fr) m, démonyme (fr) m

• Russian: этнохороним (ru) (etnoxorónim) m , этникон (ru) (etnikón) m 
• Spanish: gentilicio (es)

pseudonym formed of an adjective

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: gentilicio m

See also

• Category:Demonyms