# A word for a word that IS itself **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763 "2007-09-01T23:54:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Romola\_Des\_Loups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@Romola\_Des\_Loups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Romola_Des_Loups)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/1 "2007-09-01T23:54:38Z")
I can’t help thinking that there is a grammatical word for a word that IS itself. The same way that ornomatopeia is a word for a word that sounds like itself. I’m thinking of a word like ‘noun’ for instance. The word itself is a noun, so it is itself. Is there a word for that or am I going crazy? ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/2 "2007-09-02T00:12:13Z")
[QUOTE=Romola Des Loups] I can’t help thinking that there is a grammatical word for a word that IS itself. The same way that ornomatopeia is a word for a word that sounds like itself. I’m thinking of a word like ‘noun’ for instance. The word itself is a noun, so it is itself. Is there a word for that or am I going crazy? [/QUOTE] word? ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/3 "2007-09-02T00:13:53Z")
yes there is a specialized word for it. I cannot find it right now, but there is one. I will try to find it if nobody comes up with it. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/4 "2007-09-02T00:13:53Z")
[QUOTE=Romola Des Loups] I can’t help thinking that there is a grammatical word for a word that IS itself. The same way that ornomatopeia is a word for a word that sounds like itself. I’m thinking of a word like ‘noun’ for instance. The word itself is a noun, so it is itself. Is there a word for that or am I going crazy? [/QUOTE] It seems like there would be too few instances of this for a separate word to be necessary. I can only think of a few off-hand: someone named “Name,” a document entitled “Title,” and (as **Kilvert’s Pagan** says) the word “word.” Oh, but it appears that **Sapo** has proven my guess wrong. I hope he finds it–I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/5 "2007-09-02T00:14:55Z")
Question? ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/6 "2007-09-02T00:16:16Z")
Autological! ETA: [Autological word - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autological) FETA: a list of such: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_autological\_words](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_autological_words) ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/7 "2007-09-02T00:17:59Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Autological! [/QUOTE] This is usually used to describe adjectives that describe themselves, but I guess it could extend to nouns. A word that doesn’t describe itself is heterological. If you want to have a bit of fun, try to figure out whether the word heterological is heterological. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/8 "2007-09-02T00:20:04Z")
[Autological](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_autological_words). ETA: Damn, beaten while I was busy searching. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/9 "2007-09-02T00:26:41Z")
[QUOTE=ultrafilter] This is usually used to describe adjectives that describe themselves, but I guess it could extend to nouns. A word that doesn’t describe itself is heterological. If you want to have a bit of fun, try to figure out whether the word heterological is heterological. [/QUOTE] The wiki entry explains why this is so. The list of autological nouns is almost silly. QED, what terms were you searching? I got it in no time searching for “pollysyllabic” which I remembered as an obvious example. ---
**Author:** ![Romola\_Des\_Loups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@Romola\_Des\_Loups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Romola_Des_Loups)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/10 "2007-09-02T00:37:28Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Autological! ETA: [Autological word - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autological) FETA: a list of such: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_autological\_words](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_autological_words) [/QUOTE] Brilliant, thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/11 "2007-09-02T00:37:49Z")
I searched for forms of self-referencing and found a Wiki article which led me, in turn, to the article on autological words. A little less direct, to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/12 "2007-09-02T02:08:36Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] I got it in no time searching for “pollysyllabic”. [/QUOTE] Would that be a parrot with a multisyllabic name? ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-for-a-word-that-is-itself/417763/13 "2007-09-02T08:06:56Z")
[QUOTE=amarone] Would that be a parrot with a multisyllabic name? [/QUOTE] No, clearly that’s a parrot with an amusing bill. 😃