exonym

[ ek-soh-nim ]

noun

, Anthropology.

1. a name used by outsiders for a place, such as Florence for Firenze. Compare endonym ( def 2 ).
2. a name used by outsiders to refer to an ethnic, racial, or social group or its language that the group itself does not use, such as Chamorro rather than CHamoru . Compare endonym ( def 1 ).ethnonym ( def ).

exonym

/ ˈɛksəˌnɪm /

noun

1. a name given to a place by foreigners

   Londres is an exonym of London

Other Words From

• ex·o·nym·ic [ek-s, uh, -, nim, -ik], ex·on·y·mous [e, kh, -, son, -, uh, -m, uh, s], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of exonym¹

First recorded in 1955–60; ex(o)- ( def ) + -onym ( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of exonym¹

C20: from Greek ex- ¹+ -onym

Example Sentences

The term is what Ancient Greek rhetoricians would have called an “exonym”: a term for another group, which signals that the speaker does not belong to it.

From The Guardian