n. 1. A word or name derived from a proper noun. The words atlas, bowdlerize, denim, and Turing machine are eponyms. 2. One whose name is or is thought to be the source of the name of something: Alexander Garden is the eponym of the gardenia. [French éponyme, from Greek epōnumos, named after : epi-, epi- + onoma, onuma, name; see n-men- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] ep′o·nymic adj. |
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