entry
antonym
/ˈæntənɪm/A word with the opposite meaning of another
From Greek ant- (opposite).
from French antonyme (1840s and 1850s), which was modeled on earlier synonyme and influenced by the etymons of Ancient...
Word Ancestry
from French antonyme (1840s and 1850s), which was modeled on earlier synonyme and influenced by the etymons of Ancient...
A word that sounds as if it has always been sitting in the dictionary is actually a fairly recent invention. French had antonyme by the 1840s, and English settled on antonym in the 1860s, with the Reverend C. J. Smith helping popularize it in his 1867 book Synonyms and Antonyms. Its two Greek pieces are wonderfully literal: anti means “against” or “opposite,” while -onym means “name,” the same naming element found in synonym, pseudonym, eponym, and anonymous. Before antonym caught on, English could use the clunky counterterm—but that rival quietly disappeared, like a runner-up in a vocabulary contest. Remember the image: an antonym is a word whose “name” stands facing another word across an invisible line.
The Story
A word that sounds as if it has always been sitting in the dictionary is actually a fairly recent invention. French had antonyme by the 1840s, and English settled on antonym in the 1860s, with the Reverend C. J. Smith helping popularize it in his 1867 book Synonyms and Antonyms. Its two Greek pieces are wonderfully literal: anti means “against” or “opposite,” while -onym means “name,” the same naming element found in synonym, pseudonym, eponym, and anonymous. Before antonym caught on, English could use the clunky counterterm—but that rival quietly disappeared, like a runner-up in a vocabulary contest. Remember the image: an antonym is a word whose “name” stands facing another word across an invisible line.
Modern Usage
A joking or nonstandard use for “aunt and the people she associates with”; also sometimes used simply to mean “opposite.”
Kin & Kindred
From 'ant-'·opposite; against
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From '-onym'·name
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary