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/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
heteronym (plural heteronyms)
- (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."
- (literature) A fictitious character created by an author for the purpose of writing in a different style.
Synonyms
- (linguistics): heterophone, homograph
Translations
word having the same spelling but different pronunciation
|
fictitious character writing in a different style
|
See also
- 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’)
An Euler diagram showing the relationship between these -nyms.
| nym | Sound | Spelling | Meaning | phone/graph |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| homonym | same | same | different | homophone & homograph |
| heteronym (cat) | different | same | different | homograph |
| heterograph | same | different | different | homophone (cat) |
| heterophone | different | same | same | homograph |
| synonym | different | different | same | — |
| alternative spelling | same | different | same | homophone |
| identical | same | same | same | not applicable |
| distinct | different | different | different | — |