Innovation sometimes requires differentiation between two or more types of the same thing. For example, at one time a guitar was, well, just a guitar. But technology progressed, and beginning in the 1930s, adjectives were required to differentiate between acoustic guitars and electric guitars.
These are retronyms — terms adopted to distinguish an older version from more recent versions. They’re typically created by adding an adjective before a base term to describe similar items. “Retronym” is from the Latin retro, meaning “backward,” and the Greek ónoma, meaning “name.”
And so it is with numerous other innovations, not just the guitar. “Radio” became “AM radio” and “FM” radio. Clocks became analog clocks and digital clocks.
And what about eggs? We now have regular eggs, cage-free eggs, and pasture-raised eggs. Cage-free hens are housed indoors but not in individual cages, and can roam freely, engaging in natural behaviors; pasture-raised hens have significant access to outdoor areas for roaming and foraging, for even more natural living.
Similarly, once upon a time, it was simple to shop for milk. But now we have a variety of choices, including whole milk, 1% milk, 2% milk, skim milk, almond milk, cashew milk, soy milk, lactose-free milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk, goat milk, and, where legal, even raw milk. You wouldn’t want to risk buying the wrong milk.
Retronyms even affect something as simple as a signature. There was a time when you only signed using pen and ink. With the advent of facsimile machines, we started using fax signatures. Then, with the internet, e-signatures. Now, to distinguish when an old-fashioned pen-and-ink signature is required (as for deeds and wills, for example), we use the term “wet signature.”
You likely don’t realize how many things you come into contact with every day that have become retronyms because of some development in the technology or usage of the product.
- liquid soap and bar soap
- cloth diaper and disposable diaper
- manual transmission and automatic transmission
- conventional oven and microwave oven
- snail mail and email
- road bike, mountain bike, and e-bike
- brick-and-mortar store and online store
- hardcover book and e-book
We’ll continue to need retronyms in language as long as we keep innovating — the latest seems to be human-created and AI-created, available to add to any digital content.
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