Onomatopoeia, autological, heterological: "What is a word called when it describes itself? You might be looking for onomatopoeia; these are words where the sound of the word describes the meaning of the word - some examples are 'buzz', 'clang', 'click'. What you're really looking for is autological. Autological words have the property they define. 'Humongous' for instance, could be considered autological. The antonym for autological is heterological. Heterological words do not posess the property they define. 'Big' is heterological."
Here's a great list of more words about words, including "bibliobibuli" ("people who read too much and so are generally oblivious to the world around them -- coined by H.L. Mencken"), along with classics such as "palindrome" (which is not an Alaskan ant), and every possible "-nym" word (antonym, homonym, etc.).
Sunday, November 1, 2009
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