synecdoche

English

WOTD – 26 September 2006

Alternative forms

• syndoche, synechdoche

Etymology

From Latin synecdoche, from Ancient Greek συνεκδοχή ‎(sunekdokhḗ, “receiving together”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɪˈnɛk.də.ki/, /sɪ'nɛk.doʊ.ki/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

synecdoche ‎(plural synecdoches)

1. (rhetoric) A figure of speech that uses the name of a part of something to represent the whole.
   • 2002, Christopher Hitchens, "Martin Amis: Lightness at Midnight", The Atlantic, Sep 2002:

     "Holocaust" can become a tired synecdoche for war crimes in general.

2. (rhetoric) The use of this figure of speech; synecdochy.

Synonyms

• (part for the whole): pars pro toto

Hypernyms

• metonymy

Derived terms

Derived terms

synecdochic synecdochical

synecdochically synecdochy

Related terms

• docetism
• meronymy

Translations

figure of speech that uses the name of a part of something to represent the whole

• Armenian: սինեկդոխա (hy) ‎(sinekdoxa), համըմբռնում ‎(haməmbṙnum)
• Catalan: sinècdoque f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 提喻 ‎(tíyù), 提喻法 (zh) ‎(tíyùfǎ)

• Czech: synekdocha f
• Dutch: synecdoche (nl) f
• Finnish: synekdokee
• French: synecdoque (fr) f
• German: Synekdoche (de) f
• Greek: συνεκδοχή (el) f ‎(synekdochí)

• Italian: sineddoche (it) f
• Japanese: 提喩 ‎(ていゆ, teiyu), 提喩法 ‎(ていゆほう, teiyuhō)
• Occitan: sinecdòca f, sinecdòque
• Polish: synekdocha f
• Portuguese: sinédoque (pt) f
• Russian: сине́кдоха (ru) f ‎(sinékdoxa)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: синегдоха f

  Roman: sinegdoha (sh) f

• Spanish: sinécdoque (es) f
• Tagalog: halisakop

See also

• metaphor
• metonymy

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sinɛkˈdoːxə/

• Audio

  (file)

Etymology

From Latin synecdoche, from Ancient Greek συνεκδοχή ‎(sunekdokhḗ, “receiving together”).

Noun

synecdoche f ‎(plural synecdoches, diminutive synecdochetje n)

1. (literature) synecdoche

See also

• metonymia