automeronymy

== English == === Etymology === By surface analysis, auto- +‎ meronymy, or, by surface analysis, automeronym +‎ -y. === Noun === automeronymy (uncountable) (semantics, linguistics) The quality or state of being an automeronym; the semantic relation between senses of a word such that one sense is meronymous to another. Hypernyms: polysemy < colexification Coordinate term: autoholonymy ==== Usage notes ==== Automeronymy and autoholonymy are counterparts, two sides of the same coin. The reason linguistics can make a distinction whereby any given instance is said to instantiate one and not the other is that the terms are defined such that whichever sense of the given word can be judged to be the primary sense governs the direction toward the other. For example, if the whole-limb sense of the word arm is judged to be the primary sense, then the shoulder-to-elbow sense (used in anatomy) is said to exhibit automeronymy. The analogous relationship for autohyponymy and autohypernymy is also true. ==== Related terms ==== autohyponym, autohyponymy cohyponym, cohyponymy hypernymy, hyponymy