Hypernyms and Hyponyms: Vocabulary Building

What are "Hypernyms and Hyponyms"? HYPERNYM ---- [Hyper- Over; -Onym: Name] Hypernym is a word that denotes a general category. Hypernym [singular] Hypernyms [plural] Examples: game, bird, etc. Hypernym is also called 'Generic term', 'Super-ordinate', 'Super-type', or 'Superset'. Derived terms related to 'Hypernyms': Hypernymous- Words that are hypernyms are said to be hypernymous. Hypernymy- The state of being a hypernym is called hypernymy. HYPONYM ---- [Hypo- Under; -Onym: Name] Hyponym is a word that denotes a particular item from a general category. Hyponym [singular] Hyponyms [plural] Examples: football/hockey/cricket, eagle/peacock/sparrow, etc. Hyponym is also called 'Subordinate', 'Subtype' or 'Subset'. Derived terms related to 'Hyponyms': Hyponymous-Words that are hyponyms are said to be hyponymous. Hyponymy- The state of being a hyponym is called hyponymy. In the above examples, 'game' is the hypernym (or supertype) of 'cricket', 'football' and 'hockey'. 'Cricket', 'football' and 'hockey' are hyponyms (or subtypes) of 'game'. Similarly, 'bird' is the hypernym (or supertype) of 'eagle', 'peacock' and 'sparrow'. 'Eagle', 'peacock' and 'sparrow' are hyponyms (or subtypes) of 'bird'. IMPORTANT NOTE 1: Relationship between hypernym and hyponym is termed as 'is-a relationship'. Pattern: Hyponym + is-a/an + Hypernym Example 1: Hypernym: game; Hyponym: cricket, football, hockey- Cricket is a game. Football is a game. Hockey is a game. Example 2: Hypernym: bird; Hyponym: eagle, peacock, sparrow- Eagle is a bird. Peacock is a bird. Sparrow is a bird.