Is there a collective noun for words that describe something that this word itself contains or is?
Here are some examples of what I mean:
- ‘noun’ is a noun itself;
- ‘háček’ contains a letter with a háček;
- ‘plurals’ is plural itself.
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Joffysloffy
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3You will find the answer to this question here: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/210942/collective-noun-for-words-that-describe-something-they-themself-contain-or-are – Marv Mills Nov 29 '14 at 11:13
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1You are referring me to my own question… – Joffysloffy Nov 29 '14 at 11:14
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3That would be @MarvMills creating a self-referential joke. – itsbruce Nov 29 '14 at 11:15
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2Haha, okay, I see. Now that there is an answer, they're not wrong though. – Joffysloffy Nov 29 '14 at 11:16
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Such a word is autological and can be called an autonym.
itsbruce
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Interesting, thank you! I am actually somewhat surprised there is a word for this. – Joffysloffy Nov 29 '14 at 11:17
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I am unsure where words like ‘vowel’ and ‘háček’ fit in. They don't seem to be autological, because they do not describe themselves, but merely a part of themselves. Moreover, ‘letters’ is autological, but as far as I can tell ‘letter’ is not, because it does not describe itself entirely; only a part of itself. Is there a separate term for words that are not quite autological, but still do describe a part of themselves? – Joffysloffy Nov 29 '14 at 22:59