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⇱ One-Word Title - TV Tropes

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One-Word Title

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A title of a work that's only one word long. Not much more to say.

If the title is a noun, it is possibly also other tropes. Titles that refer to characters either by name or by job go under Character Title or Job Title as well (e.g. the Doctor Who episode "Rose", which refers to the character Rose Tyler, or the manga Bartender, which is about the bartender protagonist).

If the name is the location the work is set in, that's The Place.

Words composed of two or more words that are not usually written as one also count as examples of Portmantitle.

Subtitles do not disqualify a title from this trope.

When adding examples, please give whatever context you can, even if it's as simple as, "It's called Wings because all of the main characters are associated with a flying service," or, "It's called Friends because it's about a group of friends." If Word of God or Word of Saint Paul exists for why the title was chosen, give that. Sometimes, such a short title is picked because it's memorable.

Verbed Title and Mononymous Biopic Title are subtropes. Compare to One-Letter Title and Short Titles. Contrast to The Fantastic Trope of Wonderous Titles.

Example Subpages:

Other Examples:

    open/close all folders 
    Advertising 
  • Companies Committed to Kids:
    • "Syringe", from the 90s. Depicts a syringe being filled with dirty street water.
    • "Brain", from the 90s. Depicts a brain made of wires that it cut up with pliers to simulate drug-based brain damage.
    • "Crack", from the 2000s. Depicts a body bag, supposedly "what a bag of crack looks like".
  • Drinking and Driving Wrecks Lives:
    • "Eyes", from 1992. Depicts an asystolic victim of a drunk driver; the camera zooms out from her eyes, in which one is constricted while the other is dialated.
      ** "Mark", also from the 90s. Depicts the rotoscoped story of Mark, who killed two people while driving drunk and left their children orphans for Christmas.
  • Meth Project:
    • "Bathtub", from 2005. Depicts a girl finding her future, meth-addicted self in her bathtub.
    • "Laundromat", from 2005. Depicts a boy witnessing his future, meth-addicted self robbing a laundromat.
    • "Jumped", from 2006. Depicts a meth addict lamenting how he would rather have been jumped in an alley than make it to the party where he first tried meth.
    • "Crash", from 2006. Depicts a meth addict lamenting how she would rather have crashed her care on the way to a party than make it there and try meth.
    • "Mother", from 2007. Depicts a meth addict stealing from his mother's purse, while his former self narrates about how he loves his mom.
    • "Friends", from 2007. Depicts a group of meth addicts dumping their unconscious friend outside an ER, while the friend's former self narrates about being close with her friends.
    • "Parents", from 2007. Depicts a meth addict trying to get into his parents' house, with his father locking the door and hugging his wife.
    • "OD", from 2008. Depicts a group of teenagers watching TV, with one having a seizure on the ground, then showing a mirror world where they're all meth addicts.
    • "Family", from 2008. Depicts three meth addicts breaking into a house, knocking two adults unconscious, and leaving with various stolen items while the homeowners' daughter cries.
    • "Shadow", from 2008. Depicts a meth addict named Anthony having a violent outburst with a baseball bat.
  • Partnership For A Drug Free Singapore:
    • "Blender", from the 90s. Depicts a brain being blended.
    • "Rats", from the 90s. Named for comparing taking heroin to being eaten alive by rats.
    • "Faces", from the 90s. Depicts a sweaty face alongside the effects of heroin, which includes that human waste is released in sweat due to the digestive system essentially being shut down by heroin use.
    • "Comfort", "Birthday", and "Sleeping", from the 90s. Juxtaposes a home video of a toddler boy with an adult heroin addict.
  • Partnership to End Addiction:
    • "Snake", from the 80s. Depicts a drug dealer who transforms into a Power Rangers-esque snake monster.
    • "Circles", from the 80s. Depicts a man engaging in literal Circular Reasoning, saying that he uses cocaine so he can work longer, so he can earn more, so he can do more coke. Repeat ad nauseum.
    • "Graveyard", from the 80s. Depicts a man talking to his son about drugs, a little too late.
    • "Surgeon", from the 80s. Depicts a surgeon high on marijuana and about to operate.
    • "Faces", from 1987. Depicts a girl's face, starting with before she used drugs, and ended with her pale-eyed corpse.
    • "Vegetable", from 1987. Depicts a teenage boy talking about how his brother's friend talked him into doing crack, which left him in a vegetative state while the friend died.
    • "Jamie", from the 90s. Depicts a meth lab underneath an ordinary apartment, where the titular Jamie lives.
    • "Needle", from the 90s. Depicts a man snorting heroin and being impaled by a giant needle.
    • "Lenny", from 1995. An interview with a real heroin addict named Lenny, who dreams of being on Broadway, but disappeared in 1996 and hasn't been seen since.
  • Queensland Transport:
    • "Catherine", from the 90s. Depicts a teenage girl named Catherine being run over by a distracted, speeding driver.
    • "Pram", from the 90s. Depicts a man losing control of his car and crashing into a mum pushing her baby in a pram.
    • "Negatives", from 2007. Named for being filmed in negative colours.
    • "Faces", from the "Slow Down Stupid" campaign. Depicts the faces of various speeding victims.
    • "Nightmare", from the "Slow Down Stupid" campaign. Depicts a home video of a couple, then the girlfriend dying on the street.
    • "Life", from the "Slow Down Stupid" campaign. Named for encouraging viewers to enoy life by not speeding.
    • "Speeding", from the "Fatal 4" campaign. Depicts the first-person POV of a biker after a speeding accident.
    • "Tired", from the "Fatal 4" campaign. Depicts the first-person POV of someone waking up in a car accident after falling asleep at the wheel.
    • "Unbuckled", from the "Fatal 4" campaign. Depicts a man after being flung out of the car from crashing while not wearing a seat belt.
  • The Real Cost:
    • "Skin", from the 2010s. Depicts a girl paying for a pack of cigarettes with a chunk of her own skin.
    • "Teeth", a brother ad to "Skin". Depicts a man paying for a box of cigarettes with one of his own teeth.
    • "Delivery", from the 2010s. Depicts a delivery man giving another man a package containing a set of rotting teeth.
  • Scotland Against Drugs:
    • "Rave", from 1996. Depicts a drug dealer at a rave, boasting about various medicines he sold to other partygoers under the guise of them being drugs.
    • "Polaroid", from 1996. Depicts a man's face in a Polaroid picture, transforming from a happy partygoer to the mother of all Nightmare Faces. Sometimes also known as "Photograph" or "Paranoid Instamatic".
  • Transport Accident Commission:
    • "Girlfriend", their first ad from 1989. Depicts an ER helping a woman involved in a car crash. Famous for being the ad that coined their slogan, "If you drink, then drive, you're a bloody idiot".
    • "Darren", from the 90s. Depicts a man named Darren getting into a flaming car wreck and later dying in the ER.
    • "Joey", from the 90s. Depicts a man and his brother getting into a car wreck; Joey dies, and his brother is in critical condition.
    • "Bones", from the 90s. Depicts a woman going through physical therapy after a car accident. Also known as "Bend Your Knee, Katie".
    • "Golf", from the 90s. Depicts a grandfather taking some pills while golfing, which end up landing him and his grandson in a car accident.
    • "Fireball", from 1994. Depicts four young adults dying in a fiery car wreck.
    • "Julie", from 1998. Depicts a man grieving for his daughter Julie, who died in a car crash caused by her boyfriend.
    • "Tracy", from 1998. Depicts a woman who survived a car accident crying for her friend Tracy, who was grievously injured.
    • "Pinball", from 1999. Depicts a man without a seatbelt being launched into the windscreen and bouncing around in the car, injuring himself.
    • "Shark", from 2003. Depicts a boy being eaten by a shark on the beach with no one batting an eyelid, as a metaphor for Victorians' lack of concern about road-related deaths.
    • "Slab", from 2006. Depicts an elaborate musical number where doctors, nurses, and corpses sing about road-related deaths.
    • "Swap", from 2010. Depicts a man under the influence of cannabis agreeing to switch the driver's seat to his sober girlfriend.
    Animation (other) 
Asia

Eastern Europe

  • "Ostrov": It translates as "Island" in Russian, given that its creator, Fyodor Khitruk, is from that country.
    Arts 

By Artist:

By Artwork:

    Comic Books 
    Comic Strips 
    Fairy Tales 
    Films — Animation 
    Magazine 
  • Analog:
    • Given how large the original title made Astounding compared to the rest of the title (Astounding Stories), you could be forgiven for assuming the title was simply one word. The changes to the title only reinforce the idea that the magazine is simply Astounding.
    • Analog still sometimes shows up with a subtitle (such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact), but the cover usually shows only the one word prominently enough to be associated with a title.
    Manhua 
  • A couple of chapters of Digimon Legendary Skies:
    • Chapter 6 - "同伴", which can be translated as either "Companion", "Fellow", "Partner" or "Comrade".
    • Possibly Chapter 8 - "真面目", which can be translated as either "Serious/Seriousness", "Earnest/Earnestness" or "Dilligent", but can also be read as "True Character".
    Manhwa 
    Myths & Religion 
  • Theogony: Greek for "genealogy of the gods".
  • Ramayana: A compound word in Sanskrit roughly meaning "The Journey of Rama," which narrates the story of Prince Rama, the 7th incarnation of the god Vishnu.
  • Mahabharata: Another Sanskrit word, roughly meaning "Epic of the Bhaarats." Notably contains Bhagavad Gita, the famous sequence of Prince Ajurna's dialogue with his charioteer Krishna, the 8th avatar of Vishnu.
  • The Bible: Many of its internal Books, when discussed, usually omit the "Book of", such as the Book of Genesis, Book of Exodus, and the Book of Judges.
  • The Qur'an: Again, depending on if the "The" is omitted. Its original title in Arabic is Al-Qu'ran, which is technically a compound word, so it fits.
    Pinball 
    Poetry 
    Podcasts 
    Tabletop Games 
    Theme Parks 
    Toys 
    Visual Novels 
    Web Animation 
  • A few episodes of Battle for Dream Island utilize this trope:
    • "Crybaby!", in which the characters have to fill up a tank with their tears.
    • "Hurtful!", which features a scene where one character makes a hurtful comment.
    • "Lofty", where everyone is in the air.
    • "Meaty", which gets its name from an offhanded comment regarding a shop's smell.
    • "Recission", where a character's score suffers an Overflow Error and enters the negative.
    • "Vomitaco", a Portmantitle regarding two key items in the episode (a bag of vomit and a taco).
    • "Alone", referencing One being trapped in the moon for 14 years and isolated from everyone else as a result.
    • "Egg", one of the items Pin collects for the challenge.
    • "Shattered!", referencing Coiny breaking the glass road that is used during the challenge.
  • Nearly every episode of CartoonMania is titled as such:
    • "Slapstick", where Matthew gives a lesson on the subject.
    • "Auditions", where Matthew's toons audition for a Talent Contest.
    • "Firework", where the StickFigure Brothers set off a firework.
    • "Copyright" (where Matthew tries to copyright his characters) and its sequel, "Unprotected" (where he learns the copyright chips are useless).
    • "Sandwich", where Matthew eats a smoldering hot sandwich curtousey of Stanley.
    • "Prank", where Matthew is pranked by his toons.
    • "Doorbell", where Matthew's toons try to get someone's attention by ringing the doorbell.
    • "Twister", where Matthew and his toons play the titular game.
    • "Countdown", which takes place during the countdown for the New Year.
    • "Masterpiece", where the toons make paintings.
    • "Surprise", where Matthew's toons surprise him while he tries to find a computer.
    • "Glue", where one of the StickFigure Brothers gets stuck in a glue trap.
    • "Blueprints", where McGee tells the story of how the house was made.
    • "Diamond", where Roy and Otis argue over who gets to keep a diamond they found at the same time.
    • "Acknowledgement", which centers around a "Webtoon Hall of Fame" and Matthew wishing it acknowledged his work.
  • Chadam is a Protagonist Title.
  • ENA: Also doubles as a Protagonist Title.
  • Kiwi!: The cartoon is about a small kiwi bird trying to achieve its tragic dream.
  • The Misadventures of R2 and Miku: Multiple:
    • "Disease"
    • "Clones"
    • "Appendix"
  • Monsterbox
  • Nuggets
  • Siblings: Family Title about the siblings that are the central characters.
  • Sonic (Eddie Lebron): Only One Name-type Protagonist Title.
  • One word titles are a recurring sight in Strong Bad Email. Just a few of them include "dragon" (Strong Bad draws a dragon), "ghosts" (Strong Bad and The Cheat go ghost-hunting), and "animal" (Strong Bad imagines his dream creature).
  • SMG4 :
    • "Dreams"
    • "Flashbacks"
    • "Ssenmodnar"
    • "Mineswap"
    • "Yoshrooms"
  • Talon (2025)
    Web Original 
  • Camdrome, so named after the main focus of the game, the evil AI known as Camdrome.
  • Mortasheen
  • All of the individual stories on Nobody Here are given a single-word title on the home page.
    Web Videos 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Kiff vs Doof

The original theme song vs Doofenshmirtz's takeover version.

Example of:
Song Parody

★★★★★ 5 (7 votes)

Alternative Title(s): Pinball

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The original theme song vs Doofenshmirtz's takeover version.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (7 votes)

Example of:

Main / SongParody

Media sources:

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