What is meant by a word that is more general than another word?
Here are some examples:
Compare the two words “cat” and “animal.” A cat is one kind of animal; there are also other kinds of animal, like “dog” and “horse.” So the word “animal” is more general than the word “cat,” because it includes other kinds of animals besides cats.
Similarly, the word “furniture” is more general than the word “table” because a table is one example of a piece of furniture. There are also other kinds of furniture, like “chair,” “cupboard” or “bed.”
The word “building” is more general than the word “house” because a house is a kind of buidling. There are other kinds of building, like a “school” or “mosque.”
The word “to kill” is more general than the word “to strangle” because strangling is one way of killing a person.
Adapted from Bible Translation: An Introductory Course in Translation Principles by Katharine Barnwell, 2017, page 45.