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Hyponym

Hyponymy is a semantic relation between two lexical items in which the set of referents for one term is contained within the set of referents for another term. The more specific term is the hyponym, and the more general term is the hypernym (or superordinate). The relation is directional and is often described as an is-a or kind-of relationship in lexical databases and taxonomies. Hyponymy can operate at different levels, from broad categories to fine-grained subtypes.

Examples illustrate the relation: dog is a hyponym of animal, and beagle is a hyponym of dog.

Hyponymy is distinct from meronymy, which expresses part-whole relations (wheel is a part of car). It plays

Car
is
a
hyponym
of
vehicle,
and
sedan
is
a
hyponym
of
car.
The
chain
beagle
→
dog
→
animal
shows
transitivity:
a
beagle
is
a
hyponym
of
animal
because
it
is
a
kind
of
dog,
which
is
a
kind
of
animal.
Hyponymy
is
sense-specific;
the
same
word
may
have
different
hypernyms
depending
on
sense,
and
some
terms
may
have
multiple
hyponyms
and
co-hyponyms
(beagle
and
dalmatian
are
co-hyponyms
of
dog).
a
central
role
in
dictionaries,
language
education,
and
natural
language
processing,
and
it
underpins
taxonomic
and
ontological
structures.
In
cross-linguistic
contexts,
hyponymy
can
vary
in
granularity
and
expressed
terms,
reflecting
linguistic
and
cultural
variation
in
how
categories
are
subdivided.