Word.ws English Dictionary

gerontonym

gerontonym noun: a term, title, or name used for an old person (or set of people).

Noun

gerontonym (plural gerontonyms)

  1. A term, title, or name used for an old person (or set of people).
    • The Kenyah do not formally recognize any change in the individual's life, other than the acquiring of grandchildren, as a factor in the use of the gerontonym, but most people who are known by gerontonyms are beginning to "retire."1981, Patricia Ruth Whittier, Systems of Appellation Among the Kenyah Dayak of Borneo
    • The use of the gerontonym is a form of respect, and it supersedes the teknonym or necronym. One does not attain a gerontonym simply by becoming a grandparent : young grandparents are not so designated.1983, Sarawak Museum, The Sarawak Museum Journal

Examples of gerontonym in a sentence

  • Among the Lepo Tau , the assumption of a gerontonym tends to coincide with a gradual retirement from economic (although not political or ritual) participation (P.1990, Jérôme Rousseau, Central Borneo: Ethnic Identity and Social Life in a Stratified Society:
  • When they reach grand-parental age, people become known by a gerontonym, the titles Lake' ('man') or Doh ('woman') before their own name.1998, Jérôme Rousseau, Kayan Religion: Ritual Life and Religious Reform in Central Borneo, Brill:
  • In old age the person is given a gerontonym by which he must be addressed.2014, Peter Wategay, Coffin for Two, Partridge Publishing Singapore, →ISBN:

Forms of gerontonym

pluralgerontonyms

Origin of gerontonym

From geronto- + -onym.

Questions about gerontonym

What does gerontonym mean?
Gerontonym means a term, title, or name used for an old person (or set of people).
How do you use gerontonym in a sentence?
Among the Lepo Tau , the assumption of a gerontonym tends to coincide with a gradual retirement from economic (although not political or ritual) participation (P.
What part of speech is gerontonym?
Gerontonym is a noun.
What is the plural of gerontonym?
The plural of gerontonym is gerontonyms.

Words near gerontonym in the dictionary

  1. gerontologist
  2. gerontologists
  3. gerontology
  4. gerontomorphic
  5. gerontomorphosis
  6. gerontonym
  7. gerontonyms
  8. gerontophagy
  9. gerontophile
  10. gerontophiles
  11. gerontophilia

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gerontonym (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “gerontonym.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gerontonym. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.