Autological Words

Think of the word “long.” 

Now, think of the word “elongated.”  “Long” is within it, and the two words are pretty much synonymous. 

Consider this, then: The word “elongated” is “long,” but longer. It’s been elongated. 

The word describes itself, making it an “autological” word. “Auto” meaning “self” and “logical,” in this case, meaning something like “true.” An autological word is true to itself or true to its meaning.

For example, “longer” is longer than “long,” so it fits the category, too—it’s autological.

'Longer' is longer than 'long,' so it fits the category—it’s autological.

Are you following along? 

Sometimes, autological words can be confused with onomatopoetic words—the “sound effects” words that convey the sounds they represent like “bang,” “boom,” “crash,” “zap” and so on.  

Those are not truly autological; the words are not themselves the things they stand for—anymore than a photograph of a fish is an actual fish. They are just evocative representations of sounds.

There is a bit of dovetailing between the two categories, however, if we consider some words as they are spoken aloud.

“Fluid” is indeed fluid; it flows. “Fluid.” As you speak the long U sound—and as it flows into the next vowel, a short I—the air flows out of your mouth and between your lips. “Floooooo-iiiid.”

Another is “languid.” It almost begs the speaker to slow down, take time to savor the soft consonants, especially the “ng” diphthong.  A diphthong is a combination of consonants creating yet another sound, such as “ph,” “th” and “ng.”

Wait a minute. The word “diphthong” has all three of those. It’s not itself a diphthong, so it’s not autological, but we think it deserves honorable mention.  Plus, it’s fun to say: diphthong, diphthong ...

Anyway.  

The word “lingual,” beyond referring to languages, relates to the tongue. As you say “lingual,” your tongue plays a major role. The two L’s at the beginning and end, with the “ng” in the middle, give the tongue a workout. “Lingual” might be the most lingual word in the English language.

Plosives—hard consonants...

Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips