Word.ws English Dictionary

retronymy

retronymy noun: the process of creating retronyms; coining new words for existing concepts because the meaning of the original word has broadened.

Noun

retronymy (uncountable)

  1. The process of creating retronyms; coining new words for existing concepts because the meaning of the original word has broadened.
    • Much retronymy is driven by advances in technology.2012, e-Study Guide for: Integrated Business Communication, →ISBN
    • Of special interest to terminologists is retronymy, which consists of renaming an existing concept more precisely in order to adjust to a conceptual shift, as will be illustrated below.2013, Peter Bachmann, Michael Köhl, Risto Päivinen, Assessment of Biodiversity for Improved Forest Planning, →ISBN

Origin of retronymy

From retro- + -onymy.

Questions about retronymy

What does retronymy mean?
Retronymy means the process of creating retronyms; coining new words for existing concepts because the meaning of the original word has broadened.
What part of speech is retronymy?
Retronymy is a noun.

Words near retronymy in the dictionary

  1. retronymic
  2. retronymically
  3. retronymous
  4. retronymously
  5. retronyms
  6. retronymy
  7. retroocular
  8. retrooperative
  9. retroorbital
  10. retroorbitally
  11. retroorbitary

Source and license

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