"How do words get their meanings? Why does the string of letters (and sounds) "d-o-g" mean "dog" and "c-a-t" mean "cat"? For the most part, meanings are conventions: A group of people (like speakers of a given language) agree that "d-o-g" refers to one type of animal and "c-a-t" refers to another. Other than a few words like "woof" or "ding dong" that sound like what they mean, there's usually no inherent relation between the sounds and the objects they denote. That's why "dog" is "chien" in French and "gǒu" in Mandarin Chinese."
"There are even words with two opposite meanings. The classic Christmas example is "trim." What do you picture when you think of trimming the tree: ornaments and lights or pruning shears and a chainsaw? Words like this are called "contronyms." We "dust" cookies with powdered sugar, but when we "dust" furniture, we remove a powdery coating. We might also think of "renting" a mountain cabin for the holidays, but does this mean we're the tenants or the landlord?"
Word meanings develop through social convention and the unique histories attached to each term. Most words lack an inherent link between sound and referent, producing cross-language differences such as "dog" versus French "chien" or Mandarin "gǒu". Individual words can acquire multiple senses, as in holiday examples where "log" denotes both firewood and a ledger, and "toboggan" means either a sled or a knitted hat in some dialects. Some words become contronyms with opposite meanings, exemplified by "trim," "dust," and "renting." Near-synonyms may coexist with subtle distinctions in use.
Read at Psychology Today
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