The term retronym, a neologism composed of the combining forms retro-(from Latin retro, [3] "before") + -nym (from Greek ónoma, "name"), was coined by Frank Mankiewicz in 1980 and popularized by William Safire in The New York Times Magazine.

A retronym is a newer name for an existing subject, that differentiates the original form or version from a subsequent one. Retronyms are typically used as a self-explanatory adjective for a subject.

The meaning of RETRONYM is a term (such as analog watch, film camera, or snail mail) that is newly created and adopted to distinguish the original or older version, form, or example of something (such as a product) from other, more recent versions, forms, or examples.

返璞词（英語： retronym ）是在人类语言的发展过程中因为某些词语经过演变原有词义出现扩展或变化，为了防止旧义和新义产生混淆，所以产生的用来专指旧词义的新词。

A retronym provides a new name for an object to differentiate the original form of it from a more recent form. Coined as a retronym, " Web 2.0" refers to the second generation of worldwide web technologies that allowed more user participation and content sharing than older Web 1.0 …

2020年1月22日 · A retronym is a new word or phrase (such as snail mail, analog watch, landline phone, cloth diaper, two-parent family, natural turf, and kinetic warfare) created for an old object or concept whose original name has become associated with something else or …

RETRONYM 释义: a new word coined for an existing or older thing to distinguish it from something newer... | 意思、发音、翻译及示例

2025年1月27日 · retronym (plural retronyms) (linguistics) A new word or phrase coined for an old object or concept whose original name has become used for something else or is no longer unique, or which did not originally have a specific name. …

2022年8月5日 · A "retronym" is a term specifying the original meaning of word after a newer meaning has overtaken it.

2025年2月4日 · One such term is retronym, which refers to a word or phrase that has been modified to distinguish it from a more recent version or variant. For example, the term 'acoustic guitar' became necessary after the invention of the electric guitar, allowing us to specify which type of guitar we are discussing.