heteronym

English

WOTD – 21 November 2008

Etymology

Coined around 1900, either from hetero- (different) + -onym (name) or from Ancient Greek ἑτερώνυμος (heterṓnumos), or perhaps both.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhɛt.əɹ.ə(ʊ).nɪm/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈhɛt.ə.ɹoʊ.nɪm/, /ˈhɛt.ə.ɹə.nɪm/
  • (file)

Noun

heteronym (plural heteronyms)

  1. (linguistics) A word having the same spelling as another, but a different pronunciation and meaning.
    Agape, "astonished" or "wide open," is a heteronym of agape, "Christian love."
  2. (literature) A fictitious character created by an author for the purpose of writing in a different style.

Synonyms

Translations

See also

An Euler diagram showing the relationship between these -nyms.
Different Meanings
nym Sound Spelling Category
homonym same same
heteronym different same (cat)
homograph not specified same
homophone same different (cat)
heterophone different different
synonym
  • List of English heteronyms defined in Wiktionary
  • polyphone (a letter [or combination of letters] that can be pronounced in two or more different ways, such as 長 / 长 in Chinese, pronounced [cháng] in the sense of ’long’ and [zhǎng] in the sense of ’to grow’)
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