Hyponymy and hypernymy

In linguistics, a hyponym is a word that can be changed with a different and less precise word without changing the overall meaning of the phrase. The different word is its hyperonym, hypernym or superordinate term.^[1][2][3] Hyponymy is a relation to a more generic word.^[4] A hyponym can be part of a group of words on a similar level that can all be replaced by the same hypernym. For example, pigeon, crow, eagle and seagull are all hyponyms (co-hyponyms) of bird (their hypernym). In turn, bird is a hyponym of animal.^[5] In a sentence such as 'The pigeon is flying over the church.', it is jpossible to change the word pigeon to bird or animal without changing the overall meaning of the sentence. This is because pigeon is a hyponym of both bird and animal.

A hypernym is sometimes also called an umbrella term or a blanket term. ^[6][7][8][9]

The word Hyponym comes from the Greek hupó, "under" and ónoma, "name". Hypernym comes from the Greek hupér, "over" and ónoma, "name". A hyponym can also sometimes be a phrase. A word can be both a hypernym and a hyponym.