retronym

[ re-truh-nim ]

noun

1. a term coined in modification of an original term that was used alone (as acoustic guitar instead of guitar ) to distinguish it from a term referring to a later development (as electric guitar ). Other examples of retronyms are snail mail and analog watch .

Word History and Origins

Origin of retronym¹

1980, Americanism; retro- + (-o)nym; coined by Frank Mankiewicz, U.S. journalist

Example Sentences

The Oxford report also highlights increased use of “in-person,” often in retronyms, as lexicographers refer to a new term for an existing thing that distinguishes the original from a new variant.

From New York Times

However, when the processes of change fall into regular categories and patterns—retronyms or suppletive verbs like to be—they illuminate something bigger.

From Economist

And like a hardcover book, “cast album” is starting to seem like a retronym.

From New York Times

Mr. Safire, who died two years ago, neatly described a retronym as “a noun fitted with an adjective that it never used to need but now cannot do without.”

From New York Times

That brings us to another hurdle: the retronym, a linguistic nicety that, in other contexts, was long of interest to William Safire, the columnist and language maven.

From New York Times