Hyponym
//ˈhaɪ.poʊ.nɪm// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A more specific term; a subordinate grouping word or phrase; a term designating a subclass of another more general class described by the given word.
"The words “dog”, “cat”, and “horse” are hyponyms of “animal” because dogs, cats, and horses are types of animal."
- 2 a word that is more specific than a given word wordnet
Example
More examples"The words “dog”, “cat”, and “horse” are hyponyms of “animal” because dogs, cats, and horses are types of animal."
Etymology
From hyp- + -onym or hypo- + -nym; from Ancient Greek ὑπό (hupó, “under”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma) ("appellation"), a Doric specific dialectal form of ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).
Related phrases
More for "hyponym"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.