Gearing up for Test the Nation (Canada)

It's down to one week until we tape Test the Nation so I'm going to try and keep this week's blog posts in theme.

Today'sTTN topic - words that end in -onym, which are names for a type of word.

Acronym: A name formed by combining the first letters or groups of letters from a phrase. Example - SCUBA comes from self contained underwater breathing apparatus

Anatonym: (not to be confused with antonym which basically means opposite) A verb based on a part of the body. Example - eye that gorgeous hunk, or foot the bill

Aptronym: A name that is suited to the profession of its owner. Example - Joe Speed the race car driver, or Brenda Baker the chef

Capitonym: A word that takes on new meaning when capitalized. Example polish becomes Polish

Eponym: A real or mythical person from whose name a place, a thing, or an event is taken. Example - from the Earl of Sandwich we get sandwich

Heteronym: Words with identical spellings but different meaning an pronunciation. Example - bow of a boat and bow and arrow, or tear in your eye and tear the paper.

Metonym: A word used to substitute for another word or phrase with which it is closely associated. Example - 'crown' to refer to the monarchy, 'sword' for military power, 'brass' for military officers.

Patronym: A family name based on the name of an ancestor. Example - Watkinson is the son of Watkin, McDonald the son of Donald, O'Connell the son of Connell

Pseudonym: lets hope you all know what this one means :)

Tautonym: Words composed of two identical parts. Example - tutu or tomtom

Toponym: A word that began as the name of a place. Example - hamburger is from Hamburg, Germany, or afghan, a soft blanket from Afghanistan.