Meronymy (from the Greek words meros = part and onoma = name) is a semantic relation. A meronym is the name of a constituent part of, the substance of, or a member of something. Meronymy is the opposite of holonymy.

So:

X is a meronym of Y if X is a part of Y.

X is a meronym of Y if X is a substance of Y.

X is a meronym of Y if X is a member of Y.

• 'Blue' is a meronym of 'colour'.
• 'Doctor' is a meronym of 'professional'.
• 'St Paul's Cathedral' is a meronym of 'Church of England'.

External links

• Academic paper entitled Classification of Meronymy by Methods of Relational Concept Analysis: http://www.cs.indiana.edu/event/maics96/Proceedings/Priss/priss.html
• Online source for English language: http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn