eponym

English

Etymology

Back-formation from eponymous. See also -onym.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛpənɪm/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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Noun

eponym (plural eponyms)

1. A real or fictitious person or thing whose name has given rise to the name of a particular item.

   Romulus is the eponym of Rome.

   • Person definition

     An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being. (1 of 13 person definitions)
2. A word formed from a real or fictive person’s name.

   Synonym: namesake

   Rome is an eponym of Romulus.

   • 2004, Bill Sherk, 500 Years of New Words, →ISBN:

     [Mesmer] lives on today as the root of the eponym mesmerize.

   • 2015, Robert B. Taylor, What Every Medical Writer Needs to Know, →ISBN:

     For their dubious contribution to literature, Doctor Bowdler and Henrietta were recognized with the eponym bowdlerize[.]

   • 2023 June 19, Rachel E. Gross, “Should Medicine Still Bother With Eponyms?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     An eponym was once considered medicine’s highest honor. Like monuments to great generals, they paid tribute to medicine’s most brilliant minds, ensuring their names would live on in perpetuity.

   • Word definition

     The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language.

     1. The smallest discrete unit of spoken language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more phonemes and one or more morphemes
     2. The smallest discrete unit of written language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more letters or symbols and one or more morphemes
     3. A discrete, meaningful unit of language approved by an authority or native speaker (compare non-word).

     (1 of 24 word definitions)

   • Fictive definition

     Having the characteristics of fiction: fictional. (1 of 3 fictive definitions)

   • Name definition

     Any nounal word or phrase which indicates a particular person, place, class, or thing. (1 of 8 name definitions)

   • Namesake definition

     One who is named after another or for whom another is named. (1 of 3 namesake definitions)
3. (loosely, nonstandard, by extension) A word formed from a real or fictive place or thing.

   Synonym: toponym

   “Tangerine” is an eponym of Tangier.

   • Place definition

     An area; somewhere within an area.

     1. An open space, particularly a city square, market square, or courtyard.
     2. A street, sometimes but not always surrounding a public place, square, or plaza of the same name. (1 of 25 place definitions)

   • Thing definition

     That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept. (1 of 24 thing definitions)

   • Toponym definition

     A placename. (1 of 3 toponym definitions)

Derived terms

• proprietary eponym

Related terms

• eponymous

Translations

See also

• Category:English eponyms

Further reading

• eponym on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “eponym”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Swedish

Noun

eponym c

1. eponym

Declension