Synonym
A synonym (adjective: synonymous)[p] is a word, or phrase, that has the same (or almost the same) meaning as another, in some or all uses.[1][2]
Examples:
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- car and automobile
- birth control and contraception
- baby and infant
- child and kid
- student and pupil
- sick and ill
Synonyms can be nouns, verbs, adverbs or adjectives, but both words must be of the same part of speech. That means, only a noun can be a synonym of another noun, only a verb can be a synonym of another verb, and so on.
One can find sets of synonyms in a thesaurus, which is a book listing groups of related words.
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[change] Taxonomy
Synonyms in taxonomy are similar to normal synonyms. It refers to words in scientific classification that are used the same way. In other words, two names for the same thing. For example, the cat has a few scientific names in scientific nomenclature; "Felis silvestris catus", "Felis catus", and "Felis catus domestica".
[change] History
The word "synonym" dates back over 500 years, to late Middle English.[2] The term is derived from Latin from the Greek word sunōnumon, neuter form (used as a noun) of the adjective sunōnumos, from sun- meaning 'with' + onoma meaning 'name' in the Greek language.[2]
The meaning of the word has remained unchanged for all these centuries. There is even a saying, going back to 1892, "Once a synonym, always a synonym".[3] The word has been taught to generations of English-language students and is commonly known by the general public. Many other languages have a similar word for "synonym" with the same or similar spelling.
[change] Other pages
[change] References
[p] - The word "synonym" is said as "Sin-o-nim" with "synonymous" as "suh-Non-uh-mus".
- ↑ "Synonym - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", June 2011, webpage: MW-syn.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Definition of synonym from Oxford Dictionaries Online", OxfordDictionaries.com, June 2011, web: OD-syn.
- ↑ Science, John Michels, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1892, page 220, web: BG-AJ.
