Metonymy
Related: linguistics - soft
Definition
In rhetoric and cognitive linguistics, metonymy (in Greek meta = after/later and onoma = name) is the use of a single characteristic to identify a more complex entity. It is also known as denominatio or pars pro toto (part for the whole). --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy [Apr 2005]
Pars pro toto
Pars pro toto is Latin for synecdoche, or "(taking) a part for the whole". When used in a context of language it means that something is named after a part of it (or after a limited characteristic, in itself not necessarily representative for the whole). E.g. "glasses" is a "pars pro toto" name for a complicated structure to put on a human's nose, and implying also other materials than simply two pieces of glass. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pars_pro_toto [Apr 2005]
see also: figure of speech
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