Types of words

thumb|Synonym list in cuneiform on a clay tablet, [[Neo-Assyrian period]]

A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, state, country, and continent). Demonyms are used to designate all people (the general population) of a particular place, regardless of ethnic, linguistic, religious or other cultural differences that may exist within the population of that place. Examples of demonyms include Cochabambino, for someone from the city of Cochabamba; Indian for a person

In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is even entails that it is not odd. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members in a set of opposites. The relationship between opposites is known as opposition. A member of a pair of opposites can generally be determined by the question: "What is the opposite of X"

thumb|right|A sign in a shop window proclaims these silent clocks make "No Tic Tac", in imitation of the sound of a clock.

thumb|NASA is an acronym that expands to National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either homographs—words that mean different things but have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation)—or homophones—words that mean different things but have the same pronunciation (regardless of spelling). Using this definition, the words row , row and row are homonyms because they are homographs (though only the first two are homo). So are the words see and sea , because they are homophones (though not homo).

thumb|upright=1.25|Punch (magazine)|Punch, 25 February 1914. The cartoon is a pun on the word "Jamaica", which pronunciation is a [[homonym to the clipped form of "Did you make her?" ]]

In literature, a portmanteau, also known in linguistics and lexicography as a blend word, lexical blend, or simply a blend, is a word formed by combining the meanings and parts of the sounds of two or more words. English examples include smog, coined by blending smoke and fog, and motel, from motor (motorist) and hotel. The term "portmanteau", derived from the French , literally is a two-part piece of luggage that was first applied metaphorically in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1871) to describe the combination of words.

A patronymic, or patronym, is a personal name, or component of a personal name, based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic.

thumb|400px|Venn diagram showing the relationships between homophones (blue circle) and related linguistic concepts

An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used by the ethnic group itself).

An anglicism is a word or construction borrowed from English by another language. Due to the global dominance of English in the 20th and 21st centuries, many English terms have become widespread in other languages. Technology-related English words like internet and computer are prevalent across the globe, as there are no pre-existing words for them. English words are sometimes imported verbatim and sometimes adapted to the importing language in a process similar to anglicisation. In languages with non-Latin alphabets, these borrowed words can be written in the Latin alphabet anyway, resulting

A backronym treats an already existing word as an acronym and expands its letters into the words of a phrase, and so is effectively an acrostic. The word is a portmanteau of back and acronym. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology.

Paronyms are near-homophones ("soundalike"), near-homographs ("lookalike") and/or near-cognates ("meanalike") — words that are similar but not identical in pronunciation, spelling, or lexical meaning — which may cause confusion in their understanding (reception) and usage (production). Paronymy is the relationship between a pair of words or phrases which are similar or partially identical in spelling, pronunciation and/or meaning.

A retronym is a newer name for something that differentiates it from something else that is newer, similar, or seen in everyday life, thus avoiding confusion between the two.

acronym whose meaning refers to itself

Anglicisation, or anglicization, is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language or culture; institutional, in which institutions are influenced by those of England or the United Kingdom; or linguistic, in which a non-English term or name is altered due to the cultural influence of the English language. It can also refer to the influence of English soft power, which includes media, cuisine, popular culture, technology, business pra

shortened version of a word, syllable or word group

distinct lexemes in the same language with a common etymological root

A Gallicism can be: a mode of speech peculiar to the French; a French idiom; in general, a French mode or custom. a loanword, word or phrase borrowed from French.

thumb|A butcher's shop in Leerdam owned by "C. van der Ham" An aptronym, aptonym, or euonym is a personal name aptly or peculiarly suited to its owner (e.g. their occupation). The word "euonym" (eu- + -onym), dated to late 1800, is defined as "a name well suited to the person, place, or thing named".

A contronym or contranym is a word with two opposite meanings. For example, the word cleave can mean "to cling" or "to split apart". This feature is also called enantiosemy, enantionymy (enantio- means "opposite"), antilogy or autoantonymy. An enantiosemic term is by definition polysemic (having more than one meaning).

lexeme created for a single occasion

Reborrowing is the process where a word travels from one language to another and then back to the originating language in a different form or with a different meaning. A reborrowed word is sometimes called a Rückwanderer (German, a 'returner').

Russianism or Russicism is an influence of the Russian language on other languages. In particular, Russianisms are Russian or Russified words, expressions, or grammar constructs used in Slavic languages, languages of CIS states and languages of Russia.

word that name objects of reality and their qualities, e.g. living things, family members, natural phenomena, common actions, characteristics; mostly nouns (“dog”), lexical verbs (“eat”), adjectives (“happy”), and adverbs (“happily“)

word that expresses a property it also possesses

Slavicisms or Slavisms are words and expressions (lexical, grammatical, phonetic, etc.) borrowed or derived from Slavic languages.

word that is written identically but has a different pronunciation and meaning

word in English language

The suffix -onym (from ) is a bound morpheme, that is attached to the end of a root word, thus forming a new compound word that designates a particular class of names. In linguistic terminology, compound words that are formed with suffix -onym are most commonly used as designations for various onomastic classes. Most onomastic terms that are formed with suffix -onym are classical compounds, whose word roots are taken from classical languages (Greek and Latin).

A capitonym is a word that changes its meaning (and sometimes pronunciation) when it is capitalized; the capitalization usually applies due to one form being a proper noun or eponym. It is a portmanteau of the word capital with the suffix -onym. A capitonym is a form of homograph and – when the two forms are pronounced differently – is also a form of heteronym. In situations where both words should be capitalized (such as the beginning of a sentence), there will be nothing to distinguish between them except the context in which they are used.