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; metonymy, where an object, place, or concept is called by something or some place associated with it; or synecdoche, which can refer both to pars pro toto and its inverse: the whole representing a part. 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 literally just two pieces of glass. Pars pro toto usage is especially common in political geography, with examples including "Russia" or "Russians", used to refer to the entire formerRussian Empire or former Soviet Union 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 the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". Among English-speakers, "Great Britain" or "Britain" is a common pars pro toto shorthand for the entire United Kingdom. Switzerland's name in German comes from its central Canton of Schwyz. The Apostle Paul employs a pars pro toto designation when he refers to Jews as “circumcised” and Gentiles as “uncircumcised”. The inverse of a pars pro toto is a totum pro parte, in which the whole is used to describe a part, such as the widespread use of "America" in place of "United States of America", "United States", or "US"; as well as the use, in the United States, of "Western Hemisphere" to refer to the Americas. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, "Ulster" is often used to refer to Northern Ireland, despite one-third of the province of Ulster forming part of the Republic of Ireland. The term synecdoche is used for both, as well as for similar metaphors, though in Greek it literally means "simultaneous understanding".
Geography
Certain place names are sometimes used as synecdoches to denote an area greater than that warranted by their strict meaning:
"The Balkans" to include historically related parts of southeastern Europe as well as the Balkan Peninsula, or for the countries that made up the former Yugoslavia
The use of capitals to denote capital regions or even entire countries, such as "Canberra" for the Australian Capital Territory, "Ancient Rome" for the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, "Chinese Taipei" for the Republic of China or Taiwan, and "Skopje" for North Macedonia
Other examples
Individual body parts are often colloquially used to refer to an entire body; examples include:
"skin" or "hide"
"mouth"
"head"
"face"
"hand"
"hand" for a person, usually a woman, being considered as a marital partner, as in the phrase "he asked her father for her hand in marriage"
"eyeballs"
"guts"
"back", used to mean the entire human body in relation to clothing
"back" or "neck", used to mean a person's entire self in relation to being bothered
"back" or "neck", used to mean a person's whole self or physical being or physical life, as in the sayings "to have someone's back" or "save one's neck"
"butt" or "ass", used to indicate a person's entire self or body
The names of affiliates or subdivisions of large corporations are sometimes used to refer to the entire corporation:
Chevrolet, Holden, or Opel to represent the entirety of General Motors, where using the most common GM brand in each region represents the entirety of General Motors
