métonne

Métonne is a term that appears only sporadically in discussions of linguistic figures of speech and is not recognized as a standard concept in mainstream linguistics. The widely used term for the same idea is metonymy (in French, métonymie). Some writers have proposed "métonne" as a shorthand or neologism to refer to a single metonymic unit or instance, but this usage remains informal and is not widely adopted.

Origin and status: The form seems to derive from the same linguistic family as métonymie, but it is not attested in major dictionaries or grammars. In most scholarly references, "métonne" is described as an occasional coinage or a speculative label rather than an established technical term. It sometimes appears in blogs, speculative essays, or fictional works discussing metonymic processes.

Conceptual idea: In speculative accounts, a métonne would denote a discrete metonymic shift—an instance where a term evokes a referent not by its literal sense but by an associated name, symbol, or concept. For example, treating "the Crown" as a métonne would imply viewing the term as a unit that signals royal authority rather than the physical object. This is illustrative rather than normative and lacks formal linguistic consensus.

Relation to metonymy: Metonymy is the broad figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by an associated term. If used at all, a métonne would be described as a micro-level unit or a specific instance within metonymy, rather than a distinct mechanism.

See also: Metonymy, Figurative language, Semantics.