pars pro toto

From pars (“part”) + prō (“for”) + tōtō, ablative singular of tōtus (“whole, entire”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpars proː ˈtoː.toː/

pars prō tōtō f (genitive partis prō tōtō); third declension

1. A type of metonymy in which an entity (person, object) is referred to by a (conspicuous) part, for the whole, e.g. a country by its capital.

   "Rome (says ...)" can just as well be a pars pro toto for Italy (in practice the Italian government) as a pars pro toto for the Roman Catholic church, notably the papacy as its universal government

• Examples:

  to use the Latin rota (“wheel”) to refer to a car or chariot

  to use Holland to refer to the Netherlands

Third declension, alternative accusative singular in -im, alternative ablative singular in -ī and accusative plural in -īs.

• tōtum prō parte