Metonymy is a literary or rhetorical figure in which one thing is designated by the name of another, with which it has some relationship.
Generally, the relationship between both concepts is that they belong to the same semantic family.
Let’s look at some examples of metonymy and the relationships that occur between its elements:
Example: The happiness from home just got home from school
Explanation: This is a cause-effect relationship to refer to the happiness produced by the presence of the child in the home.
Example: drink one Cup
Explanation: container-content relationship, since it refers to drinking the contents of the cup, not the container itself.
Example: They swore allegiance to the flag
Explanation: symbol-meaning relationship, because loyalty is sworn to the country that said flag represents.
Example: Do you want to take a port?
Explanation: place-product relationship, Port wine is named after the city where it is produced.
Example: You should read Cervantes.
Explanation: author-work relationship to mean reading the works written by Cervantes.
Example: defend the grid of your team.
Explanation: part-whole relationship, uses the word network to refer to the entire goal.
Example: Polish the car
Explanation: whole-part relationship to refer to the body and not the entire car.
Example: He painted a canvas
Explanation: matter-object relationship to designate any painting on canvas by means of canvas.
Example: Is the best Brush from Paris
Explanation: utensil-artist relationship, refers to the painter through the tool he works with.
Types of metonymy (with examples)
Depending on the relationship that exists between the elements, metonymy can be of different types.
Cause for effect
Metonymy that designates an element through the effect it produces. It is common to use this type of expression to refer to people or situations through the feeling they provoke in us.
Monday begins peace (because of the feeling that what is going to happen on Monday causes in the person).
Continent by content
This type of metonymy designates the object to be consumed by the name of its container. It is a common practice when we talk about eating food or drinks.
I will drink a glass of water (although what you drink is the liquid it contains).
Symbol for what is symbolized
In this type of metonymy, the word that refers to the symbol is used to refer to what it symbolizes.
Defend your shield in every game (refers to the team he represents).
Production location by product
This type of metonymy calls the product by the name of the place where it is manufactured, as is usually the case with wines, whose name derives from the place where it is produced.
I prefer the Rioja (wine from the La Rioja region).
Author for the work
Sometimes we use the name of the author to refer to the works created by him, something that frequently happens in artistic disciplines such as literature, painting, design, etc.
Have a Picasso in the classroom (a painting painted by the artist).
Part for the whole
This category consists of designating an entire object with the name of one of its parts. Usually, we use this resource when we talk about sets of objects, animals or people.
Three heads they think more than two (refers to three people).
All for the part
In this case, one of its parts is named by the name of the complete object. Its use is recurrent when we refer to large objects.
I am going to clean it home (although the entire construction is not cleaned completely).
Matter for the object
It means that an object is referred to through the name of the material with which it is made.
I bought some Cowboys (pants made of a specific type of fabric).
Utensil by craftsman
This type of metonymy refers to the person through the tool they use to carry out their work.
This has to be fixed by a good scalpel (refers to the surgeon who manipulates the utensil).
See also:
Examples of metonymy in literature
In the Rhyme XXXVII, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer names the weapon with the metal from which it is made.
[…]he iron I carry what you opened your hand with
the wide mortal wound.
In Twenty love poems and a desperate songPablo Neruda refers to the sunset as the festival of the west.
I have seen from my window
the festival of the west in the distant hills.
in his poem GardenAntonio Machado calls wheat incense of gold.
Far from your garden the afternoon burns
golden incense in glitter flames,[…]
Ruben Darío in The Fairy Cup refers to the sun as the star.
He star
of the fog on the tulle,
bloomed in a blue field […]
in the poem deadly man by Lope de Vega, birth and death are called entry and exit.
Life has a beginning and an end,
because everyone is the same entrance,
and according to the input exit.
In Five weeks in a balloon, by Jules Verne, railway tracks are referred to as iron roads.
-The proceedings are over!- said one.
“And steamships!” said the other.
-And the iron roads -Kennedy responded-, which do not reveal the countries they allow you to cross.
Eduardo Mendoza, in cat fight, refers to the National Prado Museum.
-A while ago, in the Meadow, I’ve been watching him. He was far away, the light was dim and my eyes are not those of yesteryear, but even so, I am convinced that I saw him converse with Diego de Acedo and Francisco Lezcano. […]
Metonymy and metaphor
Metonymy and metaphor differ in the type of relationships established by their elements.
The metonymy It implies objective relationships between elements, of presence or contiguity. For examplePort wine is produced in the city of Porto, the part we call “neck” on a shirt is called that because it is at the height of the neck, etc.
In the metaphor That presence is not objective, that closeness is not real, but rather is the product of a subjective, mental association. For examplein “their hair is gold”, the reference to gold is due to the gold of blonde hair, but there is no gold as such in the hair referred to.
See also Metaphor.