Synecdoche

This article is about the linguistic term. For other uses, 2 Classication
see Synecdoche (disambiguation).

Synecdoche is often used as a type of personication by

A synecdoche (/snkdki/, si-NEK-d-kee; from
attaching a human aspect to a nonhuman thing. It is
Greek , synekdoche, lit. simultaneous
used in reference to political relations, including having
understanding)[1] is a gure of speech in which a term
a footing, to mean a country or organization is in a po-
for a part of something refers to the whole of something
sition to act, or the wrong hands, to describe opposing
or vice versa.[2] A synecdoche is a class of metonymy,
groups, usually in the context of military power.[8]
often by means of either mentioning a part for the whole
or conversely the whole for one of its parts. Examples The two main types of synecdoche are microcosms and
from common English expressions include bread and macrocosms. A microcosm is when a part of something is
butter (for livelihood), suits (for businesspeople), used to refer to the entirety.[9] An example of this would
and boots (for soldiers) (pars pro toto), or conversely be someone saying that they need a hand with a project,
America (for the United States of America) (totum when they really need the entire person.[10] A macrocosm
pro parte).[3] is the opposite, when the entire structure of something is
used to refer to a small part.[11] An example of this could
The use of government buildings to refer to their oc-
be referring to the world, when the speaker really means
cupant(s) is on the border between synecdoche and
a certain country or part of the world.[12] The gure of
metonymy. "The Pentagon" for the United States De-
speech is divided into the image (what the speaker uses to
partment of Defense can be considered synecdoche, as
refer to something) and the subject (what is being referred
the building can be considered part of the department.
to).
"No. 10" for the British Prime Minister can be counted
as metonymy, since the building is not part of the per- This type of reference is quite common in politics. The
son, but using No. 10 to mean the Oce of the Prime residence of an executive is often credited for the exec-
Minister is synecdoche. utives action. A spokesperson of the Executive Oce
of the President of the United States is identied in The
White House announced a new plan to reduce hunger.
1 Denition References to the King or Queen of the United Kingdom
are made in the same fashion by referring to todays of-
cial residence, Buckingham Palace. World-wide exam-
Synecdoche is a rhetorical trope and a type of gurative ples include the Sublime Porte" of the Ottoman Empire,
speech similar to metonymy, a gure of speech in which and the Kremlin" of Russia.
a term that denotes one thing is used to refer to a related
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 indi-
other gures of speech, such as metaphor.[6] vidual body parts rather than a coherent whole. This prac-
tice is especially common in the Petrarchan sonnet, where
More rigorously, metonymy and synecdoche can be con- the idealised beloved is often described part by part, from
sidered subspecies of metaphor, intending metaphor as head to toe.
a type of conceptual substitution (as Quintilian does in
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 re- a part to represent a whole, its use requires the audience
strictive denitions, arguably in tune with a certain inter- to 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-
ing the attention of an audience with advertising is often
Metaphor: changing a word from its literal mean- referred to by [14]
advertisers as getting eyeballs, another
ing to one not properly applicable but analogous to synecdoche. Synecdoche is very common in spoken
it; assertion of identity rather than likeness, as with English, especially in reference to sports. The names of
simile. cities are used as shorthand for their sports teams to de-
scribe events and their outcomes, such as Denver won
Metonymy: substitution of cause for eect, proper Mondays game, when it would be more accurate that a
name for one of its qualities, etc. sports team from the city won the game.[14]

1
2 3 EXAMPLES
Kenneth Burke (1945) declared that in rhetoric the 3.2 General class name used to denote spe-
four master tropes, or gures of speech, are metaphor,
metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. Burkes primary con-
cern with these four master tropes is not simply their
gurative usage but their role in the discovery and de-
scription 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
thing made cause for the eect, eect for the cause,
[16]
genus for the species, species for the genus. In ad- Describing any four-wheel drive vehicle (including
dition, Burke suggests that synecdoche patterns can in-
clude reversible pairs such as disease-cure.[17] Burke pro-
claimed the noblest synecdoche is found in the descrip-
tion of microcosm and macrocosm" since microcosm is
related to macrocosm as part to the whole, and either
the whole can represent the part or the part can rep-
resent the whole.[17] Burke also compared synecdoche
with the concept of representation, especially in the po-
litical sense in which elected representatives stand in pars
pro toto for their electorate.[15]
3 Examples
3.1 Part referring to whole (pars pro toto)
Referring to people according to a single character-
istic: the gray beard representing an older man or
the long hair representing a hippie
Referring to a large group of related peoples accord-
ing to the proper name of one subgroup: Eskimos
instead of Native Alaskans; Caucasians instead of
Europeans or Whites
Describing a complete vehicle as wheels
referring to a vehicles manual transmission by the
control handle (stick shift or stick)
referring to the whole vehicle by the transmission
control handle (can you drive a stick?")
Referring to people by a particular body part. For
example, head count or counting noses
Saying bubbles to refer to Champagne or any other
sparkling wine
Using Arabian sands to refer the Arabian deserts
Using ivories to refer to a piano (particularly in the
phrase tickling the ivories, meaning to play the pi-
ano), by a pair of synecdoches: the piano designated
by its part, the keys, which in turn were historically
made of ivory
Using grocery (=product) to refer to a grocery
shop.
He asked for her hand in marriage.
cic member of that or associated class
Saying "Wiki" to mean "Wikipedia". This is similar
to using Site to refer to any web site.
Using the good book or The Book for the
Bible (Bible itself comes from the Greek word for
book)
long-haul trailers, etc.) as a truck
In the phrase, Hes good people, the word peo-
ple is used to denote a specic instance of people
(a single person)
The pill is commonly used to refer to a birth-
control pill
3.3 Specic class name referring to general
set of associated things
"John Hancock" used in the United States, for the
signature of any person
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
any variety of adhesive bandage, or "Styrofoam" for
any product made of expanded polystyrene
A "Rube Goldberg (or Heath Robinson) contrap-
tion to refer to any machine which seems overly
complicated or bizarrely constructed
3.4 Referring to material actually or sup-
posedly used to make something
brass for brass instruments, or the shell casings of
bullet cartridges
cement for concrete, cement being just the binder
in concrete
glasses for spectacles
armor for tanks
paper for a journal article or newspaper
pigskin for an American or Canadian football
plastic for a credit card
steel for a sword
strings for string instruments
threads for clothing
tin for a container made with tin plating
 3

3.5 Container is used to refer to its con- [4] Glossary of Rhetorical Terms, University of Kentucky
tents [5] Jakobson, Roman & Morris Halle (1956). Fundamen-
tals of Language. The Hague: Mouton. p. 95. ISBN
barrel for a barrel of oil 117871814X.
keg for a keg of beer [6] Figurative Language- language using gures of speech,
University of West Georgia
He drank the cup, to refer to his drinking of the
cups contents [7] Lanham, Richard A (1991). A Handlist of Rhetorical
Terms: A Guide for Students of English Literature, Sec-
ond Edition. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: California
University Press. p. 189. ISBN 0-520-07669-9.
4 See also
[8] Political Metaphors: http://www.politicalmetaphors.com/
Antonomasia tag/synecdoche/

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

Conceptual metaphor
Kenyon College, n.d. 426. New Ser. Vol. 32. Jstor.
Figure of speech Ithaka. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4332286?
seq=4>
Hendiadys
[10] Enelow, David. The Four Master Tropes. Unti-
Holonymy tled Document. Head-Royce School, n.d. Web. 30
Oct. 2014. <http://faculty.headroyce.org/~{}denelow/
Hyponymy English%2011/rhetoric/Mastertropes.html>

Merism [11] Burke, Kenneth. The Kenyon Review. Vol. 1. Gambier:

Kenyon College, n.d. 426. New Ser. Vol. 32. Jstor.
Meronymy Ithaka. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4332286?
seq=4>
Faulty generalization (List of fallacies#Faulty gen-
[12] Enelow, David. The Four Master Tropes. Unti-
eralizations)
tled Document. Head-Royce School, n.d. Web. 30
Fallacy of division Oct. 2014. <http://faculty.headroyce.org/~{}denelow/
English%2011/rhetoric/Mastertropes.html>.
Symbol
[13] Chandler, Daniel, Semiotics: the Basics. Rout-
Totum pro parte ledge, New York, 2007. (132-133): https:
//books.google.com/books?id=utd_AgAAQBAJ&
Pars pro toto lpg=PT126&ots=IoMhYPzloj&dq=Barthes%201974%
2C%20162%3B&pg=PT126#v=onepage&q=Barthes%
Synecdoche, New York 201974,%20162;&f=false

[14] Synecdoche: The Art of Getting Eyeballs, Liz Bureman:

http://thewritepractice.com/synecdoche/
5 References
[15] Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New
York: Prentice Hall. p. 503.
[1] from the verb to take or receive from an-
other (simplex to receive). "- , , [16] Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New
A. understanding one thing with another: hence in Rhet., York: Prentice Hall. pp. 507508.
synecdoche, an indirect mode of expression, when the
whole is put for a part or vice versa, Quint.Inst. 8.6.19, [17] Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New
Aristid.Quint. 2.9, Ps.-Plu.Vit.Hom. 22." Henry George York: Prentice Hall. p. 508.
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.
6 Further reading
[2] Oxford English Dictionary- synecdoche, University of Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920). Greek Grammar.
Pennsylvania. N. R. Clifton (1983). The Figure on Film. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. p. 683.
University of Delaware Press. pp. 173. ISBN 978-0- ISBN 0-674-36250-0.
87413-189-5. Retrieved 19 May 2013.. Denition of
Synecdoche, St. Edwards University. Synecdoche - Def-
inition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
Monateri, Pier Giuseppe (1958). La Sineddoche.
Formule e regole nel diritto delle obbligazioni e dei
[3] Examples of Synecdoche from day to day life contratti. Milano: Giur.
4 7 EXTERNAL LINKS

7 External links
Synecdoche from Silva Rhetoric: The Forest of
Rhetoric
 5

8 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1 Text
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