How many "nyms" do you know? While you may not know the actual word, you probably know many words that belong to several kinds of "nyms." Words ending in "-nym" often describe different groups of words and the relationship between those words. The suffix "-nym" literally means "name." Let's look at a few:
Synonyms
English would be so simple if there were only one word for one meaning. But then language would also be extremely boring, so we have many synonyms or words that have the same or nearly the same meanings. Roget's Thesaurus lists 50 synonyms for the word beautiful, all with slight variations in meaning.
Antonyms
These are pairs of words that have opposite or nearly opposite meanings. Some examples would be slow and fast, nervous and calm, and abundant and scarce.
Acronyms
An acronym is formed from the first letter of each word in a phrase. For example, NATO comes from North Atlantic Treaty Organization or PIN for personal identification number. Acronyms are one kind of abbreviation, but not all abbreviations are acronyms. Dr. for doctor and km for kilometer are abbreviations- shortened forms of words.
Eponyms
These interesting words have their origin in the proper name of a real or fictional person or thing. Examples include sandwich from the Earl of Sandwich, who is credited with the food's invention. And boycott comes from Charles Boycott (1832-1897), an Irish land agent.
Homonyms
This is one of two or more words that have the same spelling or pronunciation but differ in meaning. For example, some homonyms are buy, bye and by or peek, peak and pique. Homonyms with the same spelling but different meanings would be bank-a place to keep money, and bank - the side of a stream or river. These are also called heteronyms.
Exonyms
Exonyms are place names foreigners use that differ from the place names in the original language. For example, English speakers use the exonym Vienna for the Austrian Wien. Chinese use the exonym Mei Guo for the United States.
Metonyms
A metonym is a common word or phrase that also has an associated meaning. For example, the White House means the American executive branch of the government. Tongue is a metonym for a language or dialect.
Grammar
While you may not know the actual word, you probably know many words that belong to several kinds of " nyms."
"While you may not know....., you probably know......"
While you may not know who your speaker is today, you probably know her father who is a famous actor.
While you may not know how to read the commands, you probably know many of the icons on the computer screen.
Vocabulary
literally- 照字面上的， 实际的“liter “-字根， 有“文字”的意思。
*The interpreter didn't translate the speaker's words literally, because it would be kind of offensive.
*The flood literally caused over $5 million worth of damage.
variation-差异，差别，变化。
*The research team recorded variations in temperature at the North Pole during the last ten years.
*There are wide variations in babies responses to this kind of music. 很大的差异
abbreviation- abbreviate (v)-缩写
*"U.S.A." is the abbreviation for "The United States of America".
*"The United Nations" is abbreviated as "UN".
boycott (n),(v)- against, not support, not buying or using it.
*The union boycotted the private meeting between the owner and some of the workers.
pique (n),(v)-cause people to get angry, hurt, or offend.
*He left in a fit of pique, demonstrating that he was treated unfairly.
*She was piqued by her husband's harsh words.
dialect- local tongue, such as Cantonese, Mandarin.
*Timothy can speak the regional dialect fluently.
language-a speaking that a country or a nation officially use.
Chat Room
thesaurus-同义辞典，照字母a,b,c,d 排列的。
synonyms-同义词 little, tiny, small, ....
使用时，要特别留意，不懂的字不要随便用，要注意：connotations.
connotations-言外之意，特别的含意。
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eponyms-the word (name) source is from people, named after the people.
narcissism-self centered idealism
narcissus-long time ago, there was a good looking boy name Narcissus in Greek.
narcissist-Narcissus falling love with his own reflecting image from the pool, so people call a person whoever love or care only his/her self, and focus on his/her own is "narcissist".
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