Word.ws English Dictionary

holonymy

holonymy noun: a semantic relation that exists between a term denoting a whole (the holonym) and a term denoting a part that pertains to the whole (the meronym).

Noun

holonymy (uncountable)

  1. A semantic relation that exists between a term denoting a whole (the holonym) and a term denoting a part that pertains to the whole (the meronym).
    • The relation between the terms ‘foot’ and ‘heel’ is that of holonymy, since one of the parts of a foot is a heel.
    Antonyms:
    meronymy
  2. The quality or nature of being the whole in a holonymous relation.

Antonyms of holonymy

Origin of holonymy

From holo- + -onymy (compare Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”), ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”)).

Questions about holonymy

What does holonymy mean?
Holonymy means a semantic relation that exists between a term denoting a whole (the holonym) and a term denoting a part that pertains to the whole (the meronym).
What part of speech is holonymy?
Holonymy is a noun.

Words near holonymy in the dictionary

  1. holons
  2. holonym
  3. holonymic
  4. holonymous
  5. holonyms
  6. holonymy
  7. holoparasite
  8. holoparasites
  9. holoparasitic
  10. holoparasitism
  11. holoparticle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: holonymy (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: “holonymy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/holonymy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.