Totum pro parte

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Totum pro parte is Latin for "the whole for a part"; it refers to a kind of metonymy. The plural is tota pro partibus, "wholes for parts". In context of language, it means something is named after something of which it is only a part (or only a limited characteristic, not necessarily representative of the whole). A pars pro toto (in which a part is used to describe the whole) is the opposite of a totum pro parte.^[1]