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phrase requests - Words that define a type of word and also obey that definition





What is a catchy word that means (non-)self-descriptive



There are plenty of names for word sets:



  • synonyms: words that have the same meaning

  • palindromes: words that read the same forward or backwards

  • homonyms: words that have the same spelling and different meaning

  • metanyms: words that symbolize other larger concepts


But a certain set of words that define word sets are also in that set. Unfortunately, I can only think of one right now: antonym, which is in fact an antonym to the word synonym.


Do words like this have a name?



Answer



An autologous word is one that describes itself, such as curt, sesquipedalian, recherché, and septisyllabically.


And autologous. :)


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