Cohipónimos

Cohipónimos are words that share a common hypernym, meaning they belong to the same general category. In linguistic terms, a hypernym is a word with a broad meaning that encompasses more specific words, which are known as hyponyms. Cohipónimos are essentially hyponyms that fall under the same hypernym. For example, the word "animal" is a hypernym. "Dog," "cat," and "bird" are hyponyms of "animal." Because "dog," "cat," and "bird" all share the hypernym "animal," they are considered cohipónimos of each other.

This relationship is crucial for understanding semantic networks and how words are organized in our minds. When we encounter one cohipónimo, it can activate our knowledge of other cohipónimos within the same category. This is often observed in studies of word association and lexical priming. Identifying cohipónimos helps in organizing vocabulary, building thesauruses, and developing more sophisticated natural language processing systems. The concept is fundamental to the study of lexicography and semantics.