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Synecdoche (pronounced "si-NEK-duh-kee", ; from Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 synekdoche (s??e?d???), meaning "simultaneous understanding") is a figure of speech
Figure of speech

A figure of speech, sometimes termed a rhetoric, or locution, is a word or phrase that departs from straightforward, literal language. Figures of speech are often used and crafted for emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity....
 in which:



word "synecdoche" is derived from the Greek s??e?d???, from the prepositions s??- + e?- and the verb -d???µa? (accept), meaning originally the acceptance of a part of the responsibility for something.

Synecdoche is closely related to metonymy
Metonymy

Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept....
 (the figure of speech in which a term denoting one thing is used to refer to a related thing); indeed, synecdoche is considered a subclass of metonymy.






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Synecdoche (pronounced "si-NEK-duh-kee", ; from Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 synekdoche (s??e?d???), meaning "simultaneous understanding") is a figure of speech
Figure of speech

A figure of speech, sometimes termed a rhetoric, or locution, is a word or phrase that departs from straightforward, literal language. Figures of speech are often used and crafted for emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity....
 in which:

  • a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing (Pars pro toto
    Pars pro toto

    Pars pro toto is Latin for " a part for the whole" where a portion of an object or concept represents the entire object or context. See also synecdoche....
    ), or
  • a term denoting a thing (a "whole") is used to refer to part of it (Totum pro parte
    Totum pro parte

    Totum pro parte is Latin for " the whole for a part"; it refers to a kind of synecdoche. When used in a context of language it means that something is named after something of which it is only a part ....
    ), or
  • a term denoting a specific class of thing is used to refer to a larger, more general class, or
  • a term denoting a general class of thing is used to refer to a smaller, more specific class, or
  • a term denoting a material is used to refer to an object composed of that material.


Etymology

The word "synecdoche" is derived from the Greek s??e?d???, from the prepositions s??- + e?- and the verb -d???µa? (accept), meaning originally the acceptance of a part of the responsibility for something.

Synecdoche is closely related to metonymy
Metonymy

Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept....
 (the figure of speech in which a term denoting one thing is used to refer to a related thing); indeed, synecdoche is considered a subclass of metonymy. It is more distantly related to other figures of speech, such as metaphor
Metaphor

Metaphor is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects. It is a figure of speech that compares two or more things without using the words "like" or "as." More generally, a metaphor describes a first subject as being or equal to a second object in some way....
.

More rigorously, metonymy and synecdoche may be considered as sub-species of metaphor, intending metaphor as a type of conceptual substitution (as Quintilian does in Institutio oratoria Book VIII). In Lanham's Handlist of Rhetorical Terms p. 189 the three terms have somewhat restrictive definitions, arguably in tune with a certain interpretation of their etymologies from Greek:

  • metaphor
    Metaphor

    Metaphor is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects. It is a figure of speech that compares two or more things without using the words "like" or "as." More generally, a metaphor describes a first subject as being or equal to a second object in some way....
    : changing a word from its literal meaning to one not properly applicable but analogous to it; assertion of identity rather than, as with simile, likeness.
  • metonymy
    Metonymy

    Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept....
    : substitution of cause for effect, proper name for one of its qualities, etc.
  • synecdoche: substitution of a part for whole, species for genus, etc.


ex:

Use

The use of synecdoche is a common way to emphasize an important aspect of a fictional character
Fictional character

A character is any person, persona, identity, or entity that exists in a The arts. The process of conveying information about characters in fiction is called characterisation....
; for example, a character might be consistently described by a single body part, such as the eyes, which come to represent the character. This is often used when the main character does not know or care about the names of the characters that he/she is referring to.

Also, sonnet
Sonnet

The sonnet is one of the Poetry that can be found in lyric poetry from Europe.The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian language word sonetto, both meaning "little song"....
s and other forms of love poetry frequently use synecdoches to characterize the beloved in terms of individual body parts rather than a whole, coherent self. This practice is especially common in the Petrarchan sonnet, where the idealised beloved is often described part by part, from head to toe.

Examples


  • Examples where a part of something is used to refer to the whole:
    • "50 head of cattle" refers to 50 complete cows (who might be herded by a ranch "hand
      Assistant

      An assistant is a person or software tool who or that helps another person accomplish his or her goals. Some assistants are strictly based at one's place of employment, while others assist with personal, sometimes home-related tasks....
      ".)
    • "His parents bought him a new set of wheels [car]."
    • "The price of the meal is set at twenty pounds per head."
    • Similarly, "mouths to feed" for hungry people, "white hair" for an elderly person, "the press" for news media.
    • For nations, "England
      England

      native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
      ", "Britain" or "Great Britain" (that is, the largest
      Great Britain

      Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
       of the British Isles
      British Isles

      The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain and Ireland, and numerous smaller islands....
      ) is sometimes incorrectly used to mean the entire United Kingdom
      United Kingdom

      The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
      , as is "Holland
      Holland

      Holland is a name in common usage given to two regions in the western part of Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often mistakenly used to refer to the whole of The Netherlands....
      " for the Netherlands
      Netherlands

      The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
       or as "Russia
      Russia

      Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
      " (formerly) was for the Soviet Union
      Soviet Union

      The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
      . From 1992 to 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
      Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

      The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or FRY was a federal state consisting of the republics of Republic of Serbia and Republic of Montenegro from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , created after the other four republics broke away from Yugoslavia amid rising ethnic tensions....
       was commonly called "Serbia
      Serbia

      Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
      " due to the political and cultural dominance of Serbia within the state.
    • A common synecdoche concerns the Clock Tower
      Clock tower

      A clock tower is a tower built with one or more clock Clock face. The clock tower is usually part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall, but many clock towers are free-standing....
       at the Palace of Westminster
      Palace of Westminster

      The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, in London, is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom meet....
       in London, which is known to much of the world as "Big Ben". Properly speaking, Big Ben is the name of the largest of the five bells inside, while the tower is simply called the Clock Tower.
    • "roof" for a house,
  • Examples where the whole of something is used to refer to a part of it:
    • "Use your head [brain] to figure it out."
    • "body
      Human body

      The human body is the entire physical and mental structure of a human organism, and consists of a head, neck, torso, two arms and two legs.By the time the human reaches adulthood, the body consists of close to 10 trillion Cell , the basic unit of life....
      " for the trunk of the body
      Torso

      Torso is an anatomical term for the central part of the many animal bodies from which extend the neck and limbs. It is sometimes referred to as the trunk....
    • "Europe
      Europe

      Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
      " for the European Union
      European Union

      The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 European Union member state, located primarily in Europe. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community....
  • Mixed example with both the whole referring to a part and the part referring to the whole:
    • "Albany
      Albany, New York

      Albany is the Capital of the state of New York and the county seat of Albany County, New York. Albany is roughly 136 miles north of the city of New York City, and slightly south of the confluence of the Mohawk River and Hudson Rivers....
       [the capital of New York State] just passed a law addressing this problem." The city of Albany means only state government located there, not the whole city; but these mean that New York state just passed that law, not just that city.
    • "West Point
      West Point, New York

      West Point is a federal military reservation located North of the Highland Falls, New York in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census....
      ", for the United States Military Academy
      United States Military Academy

      The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational United States Service academies located at West Point, New York, New York....
      , occupying the entirety of the CDP
      Census-designated place

      A census-designated place is a type of Place identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as city, towns and villages....
       West Point, New York
      West Point, New York

      West Point is a federal military reservation located North of the Highland Falls, New York in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census....
  • Examples where a species (specific kind) is used to refer to its genus (more general kind):
    • "The cutthroats [assassins] there will as soon shoot a man as look at him."
    • "Could you pass me a Kleenex [facial tissue]?"
    • "I've just finished with the hoover [vacuum cleaner]."
    • "coke" for pop/soda
    • "castle" for home
    • "meat" or "bread" for food
    • "Judas
      Judas Iscariot

      'Judas Iscariot', "Yehuda" was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve original Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Among the twelve, he was apparently designated to keep account of the "accountant" , but he is most traditionally known for his role in Jesus' betrayal into the hands of Roman authorities....
      " for traitor.
    • "Quisling
      Quisling

      Quisling, after Norway politician Vidkun Quisling, who assisted Nazi Germany to conquer his own country, is a term used to describe treason and collaborationism....
      " for traitor.
  • Examples where the material from which an object is (or was) made is used to refer to the object itself:
    • "Those are some nice threads [clothes]."
    • "willow" for cricket bat,
    • "copper" for penny,
    • "paper" for money,
    • "boards" for stage,
    • "ivories" for piano keys,
    • "plastic" for credit card,
    • "the hardwood" for a gym floor,
    • "pigskin" for an American or Canadian football, from the early use of a pig's bladder to cover those balls
    • "steel" for a sword,
    • "iron" for weightlifting barbells,
    • "lead" for a bullet,
    • "rubber" for vehicle tires.
    • "cloth" for a member of the clergy
    • "suit" for a businessperson


See also


  • Conceptual metaphor
    Conceptual metaphor

    In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another, for example, understanding quantity in terms of directionality ....
  • Figure of speech
    Figure of speech

    A figure of speech, sometimes termed a rhetoric, or locution, is a word or phrase that departs from straightforward, literal language. Figures of speech are often used and crafted for emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity....
  • Metonymy
    Metonymy

    Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept....
  • Hendiadys
    Hendiadys

    Hendiadys is a figure of speech used for emphasis ? "The substitution of a conjunction for a subordination". The basic idea is to use two words linked by a conjunction to express a single complex idea....


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