Linguistics: Holonyms and Meronyms

Posted February 27, 2020 by kddidit in Author Resources, Grammar Explanations, Writing

Revised as of
8 March 2021

A meronym is a part of something that is whole, a holonym. Consider a tree (the holonym). It’s made up of parts (meronyms): bark, leaf, branch.

This makes it a relationship between elements of material objects.

You may also want to explore the post on “Hypernyms and Hyponyms“, which also use relationships but they are conceptual.

Linguistics is . . .

. . . the systematic study of the nature, structure, and variation of language (of which grammar is a part), which describes how people use language. For the writer, how words are used (or spelled!) determines a character’s social and educational level and the time period for the story.

As I discover more examples, also-known-ases, and additions, I’ll update this post. If you have a suggestion, I would appreciate you contacting me. If you found this post on “Holonyms and Meronyms” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

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Holonym

Part of Speech: Linguistics; Semantics

Definition: Constitutes the name of the whole in a whole-to-part relationship.

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Meronym
Co-meronym

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Examples

Holonym	Meronym
apple tree	apple
bird	feather beak claw
television	screen
table	leg
shirt	sleeve collar button
face	eye nose chin mouth jaw
head	face hair ears
body	head trunk legs arms

Meronym

Definition: Part of a holonym, it denotes a part of something and can refer to the whole of it.

A meronym may have a relationship to another meronym.

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There is a controversy over what constitutes “type” of a meronym. Lyons and Cruse claim there are two types: necessary, a.k.a., canonical, and optional, a.k.a., facilitative.

Orwant prefers to divide meronyms into part, member, and substance.

A.k.a. partonomy

Necessary or Optional Examples:

Necessary Meronym	Optional Meronym	Because . . .
finger		part of a hand
faces		when multiple faces are present
cover page		part of a book
nose eye		part of a face
bark leaf branch		tree
stem		plant
	cushion	chair There are chairs without cushions and cushions that exist independently of chairs.
	cellar	Not all houses have cellars . . . or basements.
	collar	Not all shirts have collars.

Credit to: Lyons and Cruse

Part/Member/Substance Examples:

Part	Member	Substance	Because . . .
tire			part of a car
	car		part of a traffic jam
		wheel	made from rubber

Credit to: Orant

Co-meronym

Definition: Technical term for a meronym that has a relationship to another meronym — a sister meronym, which shares the same relational criteria.

Credit to: Murphy

Meronym	Co-meronym	Holonym	Because . . .
finger	thumb	part of a hand	Both are digits
flesh	~~finger~~		Because of different relational criteria, finger is a functional part whereas flesh is a material part
nose	mouth, chin, cheek, jaw	face	All are material parts of the face

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Linguistics posts by exploring its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, the Properly Punctuated, Word Confusions, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for Holonyms and Meronyms

Allan, Keith. Concise Encyclopedia of Semantics. Elsevier, 2009.

Cruse, Alan D. Lexical Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Kuzmenka, Nastassia. “Meronymic Structures fro Names Denoting Parts of Living Beings in English.” Minsk State Linguistic University. n.d. Web. 18 February 2020. <https://repozytorium.uwb.edu.pl/jspui/bitstream/11320/4680/1/BAJ_15_Kuzmenka.pdf>.

Lyons, John. Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Murphy, M. Lynne. Semantic Relations and the Lexicon: Antonymy, Synonymy and Other Paradigms. Cambridge University Press, 2003

Nordquist, Richard. “Definition and Examples of Meronyms and Holonyms.” ThoughtCo.com. 3 July 2019. Web. 18 February 2020. <https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-meronym-1691308>.

Orwant, Jon. Games, Diversions, and Perl Culture. O’Reilly & Associates, 2003.

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