If you’ve read the last Basics Bite, you know that there are terms that make me wiggle with joy to learn. Here’s another one. A real, live example is up and coming so I thought I’d take a detour to tell you about it for just a second.
The term is synecdoche which is pronounced /səˈnekdəkē/. The definition is basically using a part of the object for the whole. Another term that is closely related and often confused is the term metonymy. We won’t cover that term here, but when it comes up in the future I will cover it.
Examples of synecdoche:
- “Threads” for clothes
- “Wheels” for car
- “Blade” for knife
- “Hired hands” for workers
- “Law” for God’s Word in entirety
Neat-O, huh? We’ve all seen this concept in action, but now we have a handle for it. Which I think “handle” might be a metonymy, but I’m not sure. Like I said, they are confusing terms. I’m determined to eventually get them clear in my head, though!
In our Ephesian Bites, this term will come up so I wanted us to have a little familiarity before we had use for it.
