eponymous

English

WOTD – 25 October 2022

Etymology

PIE word
*h₁epi

From Ancient Greek ἐπώνῠμος (epṓnŭmos, “concerning giving one’s name to something; named in a significant manner; surnamed”) + English -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting pertinence or relation).[1] By surface analysis, epi- +‎ -onymous.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɪˈpɒnɪməs/, /ɛ-/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /əˈpɑnəməs/, /ɛ-/
  • (Australia) IPA(key): /əˈpɒnəməs/
  • Hyphenation: ep‧o‧nym‧ous

Adjective

eponymous (comparative more eponymous, superlative most eponymous)

  1. Of, relating to, or being the person or entity after which someone or something is named; serving as an eponym.
    Prince Hamlet is the eponymous protagonist of the Shakespearian tragedy Hamlet.
    Robinson Crusoe is the eponymous hero of the book.
    The language Limburgish is named after the eponymous provinces in Belgium and the Netherlands.
    • 2008, Nicholas Drayson, chapter 5, in A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, London: Penguin Books, published 2012, →ISBN, pages 24–25:
      Hadadas roost in numbers among the trees in the leafier parts of Nairobi and their eponymous call is one of the more insistent elements of the dawn chorus in that part of the world, though they may be heard at any time of the day.
    • 2025 December 28, Viv Groskop, “The hill I will die on: Faux Cyrillic is a load of old crдp”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 3 February 2026:
      The most famous of these alphabetical abominations include the opening credits for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Red Heat (where his name is given in Cyrillic as “Lyaiold Schwlyazeieggeya”) and the posters for the movies The Death of Stalin, Chernobyl Diaries and Borat. The name of the eponymous fake Kazakh, for example, is rendered as “ВОRДT”. This reads clearly as “Voyadt” in Cyrillic.
  2. Of a thing: named after a person or entity.
    The American singer-songwriter Madonna released her eponymous album in 1983.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ “eponymous, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2018; “eponymous, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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