# Term for words that don't mean the same thing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053 "2010-06-30T13:23:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/1 "2010-06-30T13:23:23Z")
Is there a term for words that don’t mean the same thing? For example, a term that would accurately express the relationship between ‘succinct’ and ‘kelp’, two words which have unrelated but not opposite meanings. I’ve already investigated and ruled out ‘antonym’, ‘anonym’, ‘heteronym’, and ‘allonym’. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/2 "2010-06-30T14:04:11Z")
Unrelated. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/3 "2010-06-30T14:06:09Z")
Non-synonyms. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/4 "2010-06-30T15:16:58Z")
You might look at the term “disjoint” which means “having no elements in common” and which appears to apply to your example. It would become tricky in cases where someone could show that there is _some_ relationship that the two words share. An example to consider would be “seed” and “caterpillar” which might be construed to share the relationship of being phases in the growth of some living thing. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/5 "2010-06-30T17:00:21Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > Is there a term for words that don’t mean the same thing? I’d go with “words”. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/6 "2010-06-30T17:23:58Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Non-synonyms. I propose _heteronyms_. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/7 "2010-06-30T17:34:53Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I propose _heteronyms_. Never mind. I see that [heteronym](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteronym_%28linguistics%29) means something more specific. ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/8 "2010-06-30T17:44:10Z")
I propose we coin the word “fraternym.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/9 "2010-06-30T17:46:13Z")
I was going to re-propose _holonym_. As in, it’s _wholly a different word_. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/10 "2010-06-30T19:19:45Z")
Untonyms! ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/11 "2010-06-30T19:32:14Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > You might look at the term “disjoint” which means “having no elements in common” and which appears to apply to your example. Or another mathematical term for things that have nothing to do with each other: orthogonal. But why would anyone need a word for this? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/12 "2010-06-30T21:02:39Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > But why would anyone need a word for this? Exactly. It’s pretty much the default assumption that two words will have no particular relation, being neither synonyms nor antonyms. It’s like asking if we have a word to describe people who aren’t related to each other, other than “unrelated.” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/13 "2010-06-30T21:08:39Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Exactly. It’s pretty much the default assumption that two words will have no particular relation, being neither synonyms nor antonyms. It’s like asking if we have a word to describe people who aren’t related to each other, other than “unrelated.” A similar issue could be addressed by having a term for a word that has absolutely no synonyms. It’s an old joke that there’s no synonym for thesaurus. (Whether that’s true or not is beside the point.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/14 "2010-06-30T21:20:04Z")
[orthogonal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthogonality) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/15 "2010-06-30T21:32:15Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > [orthogonal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthogonality) [late](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12636260&postcount=11) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/16 "2010-07-01T00:49:07Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Or another mathematical term for things that have nothing to do with each other: orthogonal. > > But why would anyone need a word for this? Lately I’ve been seeing the pithy aphorism ‘what is the antonym of synonym’ and pondered if such a word would mean a word with the opposite meaning (antonym), or a word that simply doesn’t have the same meaning, not necessarily opposite (some-other-nym). And to the question “why would anyone need a word for this” directly, why do we really need any word at all? We don’t need ‘synonym’. We could just say 'words that mean the same thing. There’s no succinct and precise way to say ‘words that aren’t synonyms’. Judging by the existing list of [-onyms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-onym) it seems to me there’s certainly room in the language for such a word. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/17 "2010-07-01T11:52:33Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > Judging by the existing list of [-onyms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-onym) it seems to me there’s certainly room in the language for such a word. As a way of supporting this basic notion I’ll say that even if a properly derived Greek or Latin based word isn’t in the offing, then surely an acronym could be created. We don’t have enough acronyms yet. WWAS, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/18 "2010-07-01T15:20:51Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > And to the question “why would anyone need a word for this” directly, why do we really need any word at all? We need words for things or concepts that we need to talk about. I see no need to talk about words that aren’t related in meaning, because the default assumption about any two words is that they are unrelated in meaning. The word for any two things that are unrelated is… _unrelated_. A chair and an elephant are unrelated. “Chair” and “elephant” are unrelated. Etc. There’s no need to have a word for unrelated words because there’s no need to discuss them. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/19 "2010-07-01T16:57:55Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > We need words for things or concepts that we need to talk about. I see no need to talk about words that aren’t related in meaning, because the default assumption about any two words is that they are unrelated in meaning. Thanks for sharing, but your lack of imagination really isn’t the subject here. We’d have to throw out 99% of the dictionary if it only consisted of things you can see the need to talk about. > [@](#): > > The word for any two things that are unrelated is… _unrelated_. A chair and an elephant are unrelated. “Chair” and “elephant” are unrelated. Etc. There’s no need to have a word for unrelated words because there’s no need to discuss them. But of course they are related. They are both nouns. They are both modern English words. They both represent tangible objects. They both contain the letter ‘H’. They can both be found in circus acts. They are both things that you can sit upon. ‘Unrelated’ is an entirely inappropriate word in this case, whereas something like ‘asynonymous’ (my best creation) would capture it perfectly. And as far as need… if you were having an extended conversation about the relations of words, comparing and contrasting them, then it could become a very useful word indeed, saving you the effort of repeatedly saying “words that don’t have the same meaning” or “words that aren’t synonyms” or just “not synonyms”. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053/20 "2010-07-01T19:06:50Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > Thanks for sharing, but your lack of imagination really isn’t the subject here. We’d have to throw out 99% of the dictionary if it only consisted of things you can see the need to talk about. :rolleyes: If you want to insult me, next time take it to the Pit where I can respond in kind. > [@](#): > > And as far as need… if you were having an extended conversation about the relations of words, comparing and contrasting them, then it could become a very useful word indeed, saving you the effort of repeatedly saying “words that don’t have the same meaning” or “words that aren’t synonyms” or just “not synonyms”. How about… “unrelated words.” Like I’ve suggested. Repeatedly. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-dont-mean-the-same-thing/545053.md?page=2)