Synecdoche

This article is about the linguistic term. For other uses, The two main types of synecdoche are microcosms and
see Synecdoche (disambiguation).
macrocosms. A microcosm is when a part of something is
used to refer to the entirety.[9] An example of this would
with a project,
A synecdoche (/snkdki/, si-NEK-d-kee; from be someone saying that they need a hand
when they really need the entire person.[10] A macrocosm
Greek synekdoche , meaning simultaneous
structure of something is
understanding[1] ) is a gure of speech in which a term is the opposite, when the entire
used to refer to a small part.[11] An example of this could
for a part of something refers to the whole of something,
be referring to the world, when the speaker just means
or vice versa.[2]
a certain country or part of the world.[12] The gure of
A synecdoche is a class of metonymy, often by means speech is divided into the image (what the speaker uses to
of either mentioning a part for the whole, or conversely refer to something) and the subject (what is being referred
the whole for one of its parts. Examples from everyday to).
English-language idiomatic expressions include bread
and butter for livelihood, suits for businessmen, This type of reference is quite common in American politics. For example, when an ocial spokesperson for
boots for soldiers, etc.[3]
the United States Department of Defense makes an announcement, the Departments headquarters building itself is credited for it, e.g. "The Pentagon announced new
1 Denition
gures on combat deaths, while the executive mansion itself is often credited for statements made by a spokesperSynecdoche is a rhetorical trope and a type of gurative son of the Executive Oce of the President of the United
speech similar to metonymya gure of speech in which States, e,g, The White House announced a new plan to
a term that denotes one thing is used to refer to a related reduce hunger.
thing.[4][5] Indeed, synecdoche is sometimes considered
Sonnets and other forms of love poetry frequently use
a subclass of metonymy. It is more distantly related to
synecdoches to characterize the beloved in terms of indiother gures of speech, such as metaphor.[6]
vidual body parts rather than a coherent whole. This pracMore rigorously, metonymy and synecdoche can be con- tice is especially common in the Petrarchan sonnet, where
sidered sub-species of metaphor, intending metaphor as the idealised beloved is often described part by part, from
a type of conceptual substitution (as Quintilian does in head to toe.
Institutio oratoria Book VIII). In Lanhams Handlist of
It is also popular in advertising. Since synecdoche uses
Rhetorical Terms,[7] the three terms have somewhat rea part to represent a whole, its use requires the audience
strictive denitions, arguably in tune with a certain interto make associations and ll in the gaps, engaging with
pretation of their etymologies from Greek:
the ad by thinking about the product.[13] Moreover, catch Metaphor: changing a word from its literal mean- ing the attention of an audience with advertising is often
advertisers as getting eyeballs, another
ing to one not properly applicable but analogous to referred to by
[14]
Synecdoche is very common in spoken
synecdoche.
it; assertion of identity rather than, as with simile,
English,
especially
in reference to sports. The names of
likeness.
cities are used as shorthand for their sports teams to de Metonymy: substitution of cause for eect, proper scribe events and their outcomes, such as Denver won
name for one of its qualities, etc.
Mondays game, when specically a sports team was
victorious.[14]

Kenneth Burke (1945) declared that in rhetoric the

four master tropes, or gures of speech, are metaphor,
metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. Burkes primary concern with these four master tropes is not simply their gurative usage, but with their role in the discovery and
description of the truth.[15] He described synecdoche as
part of the whole, whole for the part, container for the
contained, sign for the thing signied, material for the

Classication

Synecdoche is often used as a type of personication, by

attaching a human aspect to a non-human thing. This is
used in reference to political relations, including having
a footing, used to mean a country or organization is in a
position to act, or the wrong hands, to describe opposing groups, usually in the context of military power.[8]
1

3 EXAMPLES

thing madecause for the eect, eect for the cause,

Hes good people. (Here, the word people is
genus for the species, species for the genus.[16] In adused to denote a specic instance of people, i.e.,
dition, Burke suggests that synecdoche patterns can ina person. So the sentence would be interpreted as
clude reversible pairs such as disease-cure.[17] Burke proHes a good person.)
claimed the noblest synecdoche is found in the description of microcosm and macrocosm, since microcosm is A specic class name that refers to a general set of
related to macrocosm as part to the whole, and either the associated things
whole can represent the part or the part can represent
the whole.[17] Burke also compared synecdoche with the
"John Hancock" used in the United States, for the
concept of representation, especially in the political
signature of any person
sense, where an elected representatives stand in pars pro
toto for their electorate.[15]
A genericized trademark, for example "Coke" for
any variety of cola (or for any variety of soft drink,
as in the southern United States), "Band-Aid" for
3 Examples
any variety of adhesive bandage, or "Styrofoam" for
any product made of expanded polystyrene.
A part referring to the whole (pars pro toto)
The material that a thing is (actually, historically, or
Referring to people according to a single character- supposedly) made of referring to that thing
istic: the gray beard representing an older man or
the long hair representing a hippie. This leads to
brass for brass instruments, or the shell casings of
bahuvrihi compounds.
bullet cartridges.
Describing a complete vehicle as wheels, or a mo cement for concrete, cement being just the binder
torcycle as handlebars
in concrete
Referring to people by a particular body part. For
glasses for spectacles
example, head count, counting noses, or all
hands on deck!", or eyeballs observing adverts.
irons for shackles placed around a prisoners wrists
Describing a small portable radio as a transistor
(though that may simply be an abbreviation for
transistor radio), or a CRT-based television receiver as the tube
Saying bubbles to refer to Champagne or any other
sparkling wine
Arabian sands to refer the Arabian deserts.
In Wordsworth's "We Are Seven", the speaker says,
Your limbs they are alive (l. 34). Limbs represent
the entire body, so the narrator is trying to explain to the
little girl that she is alive and breathing, unlike her two
dead siblings.[18]
Ivories for a piano, by a complex of synecdoches:
the piano designated by the part, its keys, and the
keys are traditionally made of ivory.
A general class name used to denote a specic member of that or an associated class
the good book, or The Book for the Bible
(Bible itself comes from the Greek for book)
truck for any four-wheel drive vehicle (as well as
long-haul trailers, etc.)

or ankles to restrict their movement

iron for a type of Golf club used in the sport of
golf
lead for bullets
pigskin for an American or Canadian football
plastic for a credit card
silver for tableware, cutlery, the most valuable of
which is made of silver metal
steel for a sword
strings for string instruments
threads for clothing
tin for a container made with tin plating
wax or vinyl for a vinyl record (successor to wax
phonograph cylinders)
willow for a cricket bat
wood for a type of club used in the sport of golf
A container is used to refer to its contents
barrel for a barrel of oil

3
keg for a keg of beer
he drank the cup, to refer to his drinking of the
cups contents
in ones cups, a simple expression making use of a
complex of metaphors: under the inuence of alcohol, as described as having drunk a liquid sometimes
contained in cups

[6] Figurative Language- language using gures of speech,

University of West Georgia
[7] Lanham, Richard A (1991). A Handlist of Rhetorical
Terms: A Guide for Students of English Literature, Second Edition. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: California
University Press. p. 189. ISBN 0-520-07669-9.

See also

[8] Political Metaphors: http://www.politicalmetaphors.com/

tag/synecdoche/

Antonomasia

[9] Burke, Kenneth. The Kenyon Review. Vol. 1. Gambier:

Kenyon College, n.d. 426. New Ser. Vol. 32. Jstor.
Ithaka. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4332286?
seq=4>

Conceptual metaphor
Figure of speech
Hendiadys
Holonymy
Hyponymy
Meronymy
Faulty generalization (List of fallacies#Faulty generalizations)
Fallacy of division
Symbol
Totum pro parte
Pars pro toto
Synecdoche, New York

[5] Jakobson, Roman & Morris Halle (1956). Fundamentals of Language. The Hague: Mouton. p. 95. ISBN
117871814X.

References

[1] from the verb to take or receive from another (simplex to receive). "- , ,
A. understanding one thing with another: hence in Rhet.,
synecdoche, an indirect mode of expression, when the
whole is put for a part or vice versa, Quint.Inst. 8.6.19,
Aristid.Quint. 2.9, Ps.-Plu.Vit.Hom. 22." Henry George
Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised
and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with
the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford, Clarendon
Press, 1940.
[2] Oxford English Dictionary- synecdoche, University of
Pennsylvania. N. R. Clifton (1983). The Figure on Film.
University of Delaware Press. pp. 173. ISBN 978-087413-189-5. Retrieved 19 May 2013.. Denition of
Synecdoche, St. Edwards University. Synecdoche - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
[3] Examples of Synecdoche from day to day life
[4] Glossary of Rhetorical Terms, University of Kentucky

[10] Enelow, David. The Four Master Tropes. Untitled Document. Head-Royce School, n.d. Web. 30
Oct. 2014. <http://faculty.headroyce.org/~{}denelow/
English%2011/rhetoric/Mastertropes.html>
[11] Burke, Kenneth. The Kenyon Review. Vol. 1. Gambier:
Kenyon College, n.d. 426. New Ser. Vol. 32. Jstor.
Ithaka. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4332286?
seq=4>
[12] Enelow, David. The Four Master Tropes. Untitled Document. Head-Royce School, n.d. Web. 30
Oct. 2014. <http://faculty.headroyce.org/~{}denelow/
English%2011/rhetoric/Mastertropes.html>.
[13] Chandler, Daniel, Semiotics: the Basics. Routledge, New
York, 2007. (132-133): http://books.google.com/books?
id=utd_AgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT126&ots=IoMhYPzloj&
dq=Barthes%201974%2C%20162%3B&pg=PT126#v=
onepage&q=Barthes%201974,%20162;&f=false
[14] Synecdoche: The Art of Getting Eyeballs, Liz Bureman:
http://thewritepractice.com/synecdoche/
[15] Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New
York: Prentice Hall. p. 503.
[16] Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New
York: Prentice Hall. pp. 507508.
[17] Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New
York: Prentice Hall. p. 508.
[18] Stephen Greenblatt et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, volume D, 9th edition (Norton, 2012)

6 Further reading
Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920). Greek Grammar.
Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. p. 683.
ISBN 0-674-36250-0.
Monateri, Pier Giuseppe (1958). La Sineddoche.
Formule e regole nel diritto delle obbligazioni e dei
contratti. Milano: Giur.

External links
Synecdoche from Silva Rhetoric: The Forest of
Rhetoric

EXTERNAL LINKS

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