- Definition : A term for an "umbrella" item of lexis which describes a category subsuming a range of more specific items.
- Example : fruit is the superordinate of apple, orange, pear, plum, apricot, avocado etc etc; mammal is the superordinate of horse, cat, bear, hamster, cow, lion etc etc
- Other related terms : the relationship between the category/items is hyponomy, and the items themselves are all co-hyponyms.
Further Reading
Gairns and Redman, Working with Words, Cambridge
