Synecdoche

This article is about the linguistic term. For other uses, see Synecdoche (disambiguation).

A common example of synecdoche: using the term boots to mean "soldiers", as in the phrase "boots on the ground".

Synecdoche (/sɪˈnɛkdəki/ sih-NEK-də-kee)[1] is a type of metonymy; it is a figure of speech that uses a term for a part of something to refer to the whole (pars pro toto), or vice versa (totum pro parte).[2][3][4][5] The term is derived from Ancient Greek συνεκδοχή (sunekdokhḗ) 'simultaneous understanding'.[a]

Common English synecdoches include suits for businessmen, wheels for automobile, and boots for soldiers. Another example is the use of government buildings to refer to their resident agencies or bodies, such as The Pentagon for the United States Department of Defense[7] and Downing Street or Number 10 for the office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the use of the name of a country's capital city to refer to the government of the country.[8]

  1. ^ Wells, John C. (2008). "synecdoche". Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 9781405881180.)
  2. ^ "synecdoche". Oxford English Dictionary. 1998 – via University of Pennsylvania.
  3. ^ Clifton, N. R. (1983). The Figure on Film. University of Delaware Press. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-87413-189-5. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  4. ^ Klawitter, George. "Synecdoche". St. Edward's University. Archived from the original on 13 October 2008.
  5. ^ "synecdoche". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  6. ^ "συνεκ-δοχή, ἡ, A. understanding one thing with another: hence in Rhet., synecdoche, an indirect mode of expression, when the whole is put for a part Quint.Inst. 8.6.19, Aristid.Quint. 2.9, Ps.-Plu.Vit.Hom. 22." Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1940.
  7. ^ Heitman, Jane (2 January 2019). Figurative Language Quick Starts Workbook. Carson-Dellosa Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4838-5503-5.
  8. ^ Panther, Klaus-Uwe; Thornburg, Linda L.; Barcelona, Antonio (2009). Metonymy and Metaphor in Grammar. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-2379-1.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).