pars pro toto

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

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /pars proː ˈtoː.toː/, [pärs̠ proː ˈt̪oːt̪oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /pars pro ˈto.to/, [pärs prɔː ˈt̪ɔːt̪o]

pars prō tōtō f sg (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.

Third-declension noun (i-stem, ablative singular in -e or occasionally -ī) with an indeclinable portion, singular only.

• tōtum prō parte