Wiktionary

retronym

See also: Retronym

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From retro- +‎ -onym; coined by Frank Mankiewicz[1] and popularized by William Safire.[2][3]

NounEdit

Examples

retronym (plural retronyms)

  1. (linguistics) A new word or phrase coined for an old object or concept whose original name has become used for something else or is no longer unique, or which did not originally have a specific name. [from 1980s]
    Coordinate term: anachronym
    • 1982 December 26, William Safire, “On Language: Watch what you say”, in New York Times‎[4]:
      The phrase is a retronym, the term Frank Mankiewicz has coined to describe names of familiar objects or events that need a modifier to catch up to more modern objects: day baseball and natural turf are in the same category as analog watch.
    • 2004, Geoff Nunberg, Going Nucular: Language, Politics, and Culture in Confrontational Times, →ISBN, page 239:
      You can get a good sense of the pace of change over the past century just by looking at the retronyms we've accumulated. New technologies have forced us to come up with terms like steam locomotive, silent movie […]

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Jeremy M. Brosowsky (March 2001), “Frankly Speaking”, in Business Forward‎[1], archived from the original on 2002-09-20
  2. ^ William Safire (December 26, 1982), “On Language: Watch what you say”, in New York Times‎[2]
  3. ^ William Safire (January 7, 2007), “On Language: Retronym”, in New York Times‎[3], retrieved November 8, 2017

Further readingEdit

DanishEdit

EtymologyEdit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

NounEdit

retronym n (singular definite retronymet, plural indefinite retronymer)

  1. (linguistics, rare) retronym

DeclensionEdit

Declension of retronym
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative retronym retronymet retronymer retronymerne
genitive retronyms retronymets retronymers retronymernes

SwedishEdit

EtymologyEdit

retro- +‎ -onym

NounEdit

retronym c

  1. retronym

DeclensionEdit

Declension of retronym 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative retronym retronymen retronymer retronymerna
Genitive retronyms retronymens retronymers retronymernas

See alsoEdit

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