retronym en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ɹəˈtɹoʊ.nɪm/ (General-American)
- /ɹəˈtɹəʊ.nɪm/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From retro- + -onym; coined by Frank Mankiewicz and popularized by William Safire.
Meanings
-
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.
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.
1982 December 26, William Safire, “On Language: Watch what you say”, in New York Times: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 […]
2004, Geoff Nunberg, Going Nucular: Language, Politics, and Culture in Confrontational Times, →ISBN, page 239:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| retronyms | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Coordinates
Deriveds
retronymically · retronymic · retronymous
Relateds
Translations (19)
fr rétronyme (A new coinage for an old concept) · de Retronym (A new coinage for an old concept) · pt retrónimo (A new coinage for an old concept) · cmn 返璞詞 /返璞词 (A new coinage for an old concept) · sv retronym (A new coinage for an old concept) · el παλινώνυμο, αναβαπτιστής (A new coinage for an old concept) · es retrónimo (A new coinage for an old concept) · pl retronim (A new coinage for an old concept) · bg ретроним (A new coinage for an old concept) · da retronym (A new coinage for an old concept) · it retronimo (A new coinage for an old concept) · ru ретро́ним (A new coinage for an old concept) · ja レトロニム (A new coinage for an old concept) · nb retronym (A new coinage for an old concept) · ja 再命名 (A new coinage for an old concept) · fi retronyymi (A new coinage for an old concept) · pt retrônimo (A new coinage for an old concept) · nn retronym (A new coinage for an old concept) · is afturvirkt orð (A new coinage for an old concept)