Appellative

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. A common name, distinction from a proper name. A common name, or appellative, stands for a whole class, genus, or species of beings, or for universal ideas. Thus, tree is the name of all plants of a particular class; plant and vegetable are names of things that grow out of the earth. A proper name, on the other hand, stands for a single thing; as, Rome, Washington, Lake Erie.

2. An appellation or title; a descriptive name. God chosen it for one of his appellatives to be the Defender of them. Jer. Taylor.

Part of speech: adjective (a.)

1. Pertaining to a common name; serving as a distinctive denomination; denominative; naming. Cudworth.

2. Common, as opposed to proper; denominative of a class.