Hypernym

In linguistic semantics, hyperonyms are those general terms that can be used to refer to the reality named by a more specific term. For example, a living being is a hypernym for the terms plant and animal (hyponyms).

General information

Semantically, a hypernym does not have any semantic feature, or seme, that its hyponym does not share, while the latter does have semantic features that differentiate it from the former.

For example, car has only the semen [+vehicle], [+with motor] and [+small size], which it shares with convertible, while < i>convertible also has the trait [+with folding top], which differentiates it from automobile.