hyponym
/ˈhaɪpəʊ.nɪm/
"hyponym" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hyponym” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A more specific term; a subordinate grouping word or phrase; a term designating a subclass of another more general class described by the given word.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hyponym · hyponym · English
hyponym · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "H" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hyponym |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhaɪpəʊ.nɪm/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “hyponym” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hyponym is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈhaɪpəʊ.nɪm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A more specific term; a subordinate grouping word or phrase; a term designating a subclass of another more general class described by the given word.".
No misspelling variants are generated for hyponym in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From hyp- + -onym or hypo- + -nym; from Ancient Greek ὑπό (hupó, “under”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma) ("appellation"), a Doric specific dialectal form of ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”). The correct English form is hyponym, spelled H-Y-P-O-N-Y-M.
Definition
- 1A more specific term; a subordinate grouping word or phrase; a term designating a subclass of another more general class described by the given word.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hyponym appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The words “dog”, “cat”, and “horse” are hyponyms of “animal” because dogs, cats, and horses are types of animal.
Woman itself has as other hyponyms, sculptress and waitress, but is itself a hyponym of adult.
Etymology
From hyp- + -onym or hypo- + -nym; from Ancient Greek ὑπό (hupó, “under”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma) ("appellation"), a Doric specific dialectal form of ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.