The AI-powered English dictionary
plural eponyms
A real or fictitious person or thing whose name has given rise to the name of a particular item. examples
A word formed from a real or fictive person’s name. quotations examples
[Mesmer] lives on today as the root of the eponym mesmerize.
2004, Bill Sherk, 500 Years of New Words
For their dubious contribution to literature, Doctor Bowdler and Henrietta were recognized with the eponym bowdlerize[.]
2015, Robert B. Taylor, What Every Medical Writer Needs to Know
An eponym was once considered medicine’s highest honor. Like monuments to great generals, they paid tribute to medicine’s most brilliant minds, ensuring their names would live on in perpetuity.
2023 June 19, Rachel E. Gross, “Should Medicine Still Bother With Eponyms?”, in The New York Times
(loosely, nonstandard, by extension) A word formed from a real or fictive place or thing.