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retronym

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Altering or adding to a prior word or term term that must be further defined in the light of later developments or technical innovation.

Example: No one called "World War One" that until there was a "World War Two" with which to contrast it. The going term during the 1914-1918 war and up to 1939 was "The Great War."

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Other employment of term retronym:

Telephone becomes "rotary-dial phone" to distinguish it from the push-button phones that became widespread in the 1970s and early 1980s (although rotary-dial phones still work if all you want to do is place a call and don't need to access features like querying a bank account balance).

Similarly, telephone also becomes "corded phone" to distinguish the traditional hard-wired telephone from those that are wireless in some way, such as cordless phones.

"Regular" coffee to distinguish it from decaffeinated coffee; some people say "caffeinated" coffee but strictly speaking this is a grammatical back-formation, not a retronym, because "to caffeinate" would mean to ADD caffeine to traditional coffee.

Note, though, that Coca-Cola is a "caffeinated" or "caffeine-containing" soft drink in its usual red-can form. Now that there is a Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola "caffeinated" could find use as a retronym for "the real thing."

"Manual" or "standard" or "stick" transmission on a car, none of which terms was necessary before automatic transmissions on cars became widespread and assumed to be the norm.

And, of course, "acoustic" guitar.

by al-in-chgo March 6, 2010

8👍 2👎


retronym

Describes a word re-created to differentiate the original from newer incarnations of the same. Often preceded by "Analog", "Acoustic" or "Conventional".

snail mail, analog watch, rotary-dial telephone, or in America, "Ice Hockey".

by Robert Martin December 1, 2003

4👍 2👎


Retronym

Creating a new term from an existing word.

Truffle Butter was retronymously renamed Kie Butter after we observed his bootyhole.

by Assholedude January 5, 2023