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A Word For...
Jesse Robles
1
2008/12/23 - 7:15pm

Hello,

A friend and I were thinking about a word for when something is made up of what it is.
For example, we were in a large lumber store that was made of entirely of wood and it also stored wood. He suggested that there is a scientific word but we couldn't figure it out.

Would anyone be able to help us?

-Jesse A. Robles

Guest
2
2008/12/24 - 9:36am

I don't understand your example, Jesse. Are you looking for another word for "lumber store," because the lumber store is made with lumber? How about a masonry store made of bricks? Or a Lego store made of legos? Or a gingerbread house made of gingerbread? An ice cream sandwich is made up of - oddly enough - ice cream and a sandwich. It's common to name things for what they are made up of, though I'm quite happy that hot dogs are not made up of dogs in heat! Kidding aside, you can just as well store wood in a brick or cement building as a wood building, but what of it? I'm not sure what kind of word you're looking for?

Guest
3
2008/12/24 - 1:41pm

Well we believe there is word for when something shares the qualities that it's individual parts hold. So, like my lumber example, the wooden structure stored what it was made of.
Catch my drift?

-Jesse A. Robles

Guest
4
2008/12/25 - 9:47am

I'm still not sure I'm catching your drift, but maybe you're looking for a word like cognate which can mean "allied or similar in nature or quality"? I suppose that the lumber store could be considered a cognate of the lumber it holds, but it's a bit of a creative stretch.

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