Onomastics
//ˌɒ.nəʊˈmæs.tɪks// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The branch of lexicology devoted to the study of names and naming, especially the origins of names. plural, plural-only
"Her father had long been a student of onomastics, and loved to unpack the names of people they encountered as children."
- 2 the branch of lexicology that studies the forms and origins of proper names wordnet
Example
More examples"Her father had long been a student of onomastics, and loved to unpack the names of people they encountered as children."
Etymology
1936, from the adjective onomastic (“of or belonging to naming”) (1716) with a suffix -s, from French onomastique, from Ancient Greek ὀνομαστικός (onomastikós), from ὀνομαστός (onomastós, “named”), form of ὀνομάζω (onomázō, “I name”), from ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”) (whence English name).
Related phrases
More for "onomastics"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.