Mr. Manik Joshi

Hypernyms and Hyponyms: Vocabulary Building (English Word Power) (Volume 14) Mr. Manik Joshi

What are "Hypernyms and Hyponyms"?

HYPERNYMS ----
[Hyper- Over; Nym: Name]
Hypernym is a word that denotes general category.
Hpernym [singular] | Hypernyms [plural]
Examples- game, bird, etc.
Hypernym is also called 'Super ordinate', 'Generic term', 'Supertype', or 'Superset'

Derived terms related to 'Hypernyms':
Hypernymous
Words that are hypernyms are said to be hypernymous.
Hypernymy
The state of being a hypernym is called hypernymy.

HYPONYMS ----
[Hypo- Under; Nym: Name]
Hyponym is a word that denotes particular item from general category.
Hyponym [singular] | Hyponyms [plural]
Examples- football/hockey, sparrow/eagle, etc.
Hyponym is also called 'Subordinate', 'Subtype' or 'Subset'.

Derived terms related to 'Hyponyms':
Hyponymous
Words that are hyponyms are said to be hyponymous.
Hyponymy
The state of being a hyponym is called hyponymy.

In above examples, 'game' is the hypernym (or supertype) of 'football' and 'hockey'; 'football' and 'hockey' are hyponyms (or subtypes) of 'game'.
Similarly, 'bird' is the hypernym (or supertype) of 'sparrow' and 'eagle'; 'sparrow' and 'eagle' are hyponyms (or subtypes) of 'bird'.

Important Note 1:
Relationship between hypernym and hyponym is termed as 'is-a relationship'.
Pattern:
Hyponym + is-a/an + Hpernym
Football is a game
Hockey is a game
Sparrow is a bird
Eagle is a bird

Important Note 2:
Proper Nouns as Hyponyms
Hypernym -- Computer
Hyponyms -- Acer / Asus / Compaq / Dell / HCL / Hitachi / IBM / Intel / Lenovo / Microsoft / Motorola / Oracle / Samsung / Sony / Toshiba / Wipro

Important Note 3:
A word can be hyponym in one context but a hypernym in another.
'Dell' is the hyponym of 'Computer' [Wipro- Hyponym; Computer- Hypernym]
'Computer' is the hyponym of 'Machine' [Computer- Hpyonym, Machine -- Hypernym]