Etymology

catachresis

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Today it means: A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote. Full definition →

Latin catachrēsis ← Ancient Greek κατάχρησις
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromκατάχρησις“misuse (of a word)”
  2. Latin · learned borrowing fromcatachrēsis
  3. English todaycatachresis

Learned borrowing from Latin catachrēsis, borrowed from Ancient Greek κατάχρησις (katákhrēsis, “misuse (of a word)”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.