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I am working on the premise i have invented a new word or term. Negonym. That is, a hononym that has a modern precedent of having racial , sexist or homophobic connotations, and as such is no longer in wide use, or is in the process of vanishing. Negonym is a combination of negation and hononym.
Hmmm that could sure do the trick, sounds quite slick.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any terms that would be considered a negonym.
ReplyDeleteSpade and spayed are hononyms which are also negonyms. Since the term spade has a modern racial connotation meaning its now falling out of use. 'Call a spade a spade' or 'black as the ace of spades' are now becoming less and less familiar to a modern audience due to self censorship.
DeleteI've seen "negonym" used in the past, but with a different definition. It meant a word that may have in the past had a positive and a negative form, but in modern usage, is only used in its negative form. "Uncouth" is a example of a negonym. Uncouth is current usage, but the positive form, "couth" is not in current usage.
ReplyDelete