873: Retronym Apr 29, 2017

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It isn't uncommon to see '-onym' at the end of words that have a meaning associated with names or words. 'Synonym' and 'antonym' may be the most common, but there are others including 'demonym'. There is also the 'retronym' which is quite a new word—only invented in the 1980's—referring to a word that is created from an existing one for the purpose of distinguishing two different meanings that original word has newly acquired. This comes up usually for two reasons, either due to technological advancements or from social changes. With books for example, e-readers that allow people to download books necessitate the differentiation between traditional paper-books and e(lectronic)-books. Another example is when same-sex couples gained marriage-rights, what could have always just been called 'marriage' then was distinguished through other terms like 'straight-marriage' and 'gay-marriage' among other terms. If there are others you can think of, write them in the comments.

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