Pars pro toto


; ; ), is a figure of speech where the name of a portion of an object, place, or concept is used or taken to represent its entirety. It is distinct from a merism, which is a reference to a whole by an enumeration of parts; and metonymy, where an object, place, or concept is called by something or some place associated with it. It is a form of synecdoche, which can refer both to pars pro toto and its inverse,.
In the context of language, pars pro toto means that something is named after a part or subset of it or after a limited characteristic, which in itself is not necessarily representative of the whole. For example, "glasses" is a pars pro toto name for something that consists of more than just two pieces of glass. Pars pro toto usage is especially common in political geography, with examples including "Russia" or "Russians", referring to the political institution or its people; "Holland" for the Netherlands; and, particularly in languages other than English, using the translation of "England" in that language to refer to Great Britain or the United Kingdom.

Geography

An example of a pars pro toto in geography is the use of the capital to refer generally to the country such as Washington for the United States, Beijing for China, or Moscow for Russia. When the capital is used to refer specifically to the country's government, the figure of speech is a metonymy rather than a pars pro toto.
Certain place names are sometimes used as synecdoches to denote an area greater than that warranted by their strict meaning:

Demonyms and ethnic groups

Other examples

Other examples include an individual object being used to refer to a larger object or group of which it is a part: