Hypernyms

Hypernyms are words that are supersets of other words. For example, pasta is a general description, with lasagna, fettuccine, and tortelli being subsets, also known as hyponyms, within the general category of pasta.

graph TD;
    Pasta --> Lasagna & Fettuccine & Tortelli

Hypernyms can be used to help users find products when they're searching for the hypernym, as products, which might fit the description, might only be found on the more specific terms.

For example, if a user is searching for pasta with no hypernyms registered, they will not be able to find products, which are only described as tortelli. After registering the hypernym above, users can now find all three kinds when searching for "pasta".

As opposed to synonyms, hypernyms are one-way. This means that the user will not find products, which are only described as pasta when searching for "tortelli", even after registering the hypernym.

As there is no boost reduction when matching products based on text analysis, hypernyms can also be used to improve the ordering of products in a search result. If a product has tortelli in the title and pasta in the LongDescription, the product will be seen as a better search result if the hypernym has been created, as matches in the title generally have higher search relevance matches in the LongDescription.

Hypernyms are created as a part of a hypernym dictionary.