Retronym

1 definition found

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  retronym
       
           A term invented to distinguish a subclass of things
          from new members of the superclass, where the distinction was
          previously not necessary, since the old subclass had been all
          there was of the superclass.


       
          For example, the retronyms "{snail mail}" and "{paper mail}"
          were coined by those for who "mail" was likely to mean
          {electronic mail}.
       
          While the English language in general has a few retronyms
          ("whole milk", "snow skiing", "acoustic guitar"), hacker
          jargon is necessarily (at points capriciously) rich in
          retronyms, e.g. {plaintext}, {natural language}, {impact
          printer}, {eyeball search}, biological {virus}.
       
          [More examples?]
       
          (2001-02-25)