Substyle

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A category within a predominant style that showcases its own unique traits
2. A unique variation of an overarching style that highlights specific characteristics
3. A specific form of a larger style that displays particular features

Etymology: "Substyle" is a plain compound, built from the prefix "sub-" (from Latin "sub", meaning "under" or "below") attached to "style." The style half traces back through Old French "estile" to Latin "stilus," the pointed tool used for writing on wax tablets, which later came to mean a manner of writing and then a manner of doing almost anything. Put together, a substyle is a manner nested beneath a broader one: a distinct variation that still belongs to the larger style it sits under.

Synonyms: subgenre, variation