Link Centre Dictionary

eponym

epo·nym

UK/ˈɛpənɪm/ uncommon archaic

noun

1.

the name of a person for whom something is supposedly named

  • “Constantine I is the eponym for Constantinople”
2.

a name derived from the name of person (real or imaginary) as the name of Alexandria is derived from the name of its founder: Alexander the Great

Origin

From Latin eponymus, from Ancient Greek ἐπώνῠμος (epṓnŭmos), from ἐπί (epí, “upon, epi-”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma, “name”) + -ος (-os, suffix forming adjectives and nouns). Equivalent to epi- + -nym.

Phrases

  • proprietary eponym

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.