terminology - What is it called when a word is used to refer to the word, not its meaning?


In this picture


of a riddle that abuses grammar.


The word 'yet' is being used as a noun, but 'yet' is a conjunction. Is there a term for this?


Transcript of the relevant part of this image, just in case it gets taken down:



What is a word made up of 4 letters, yet is made up of 3. Although is written with 8 letters, and then with 4. Rarely consists of 6, and never is written with 5.




Answer



The term for referring to a word in a sentence instead of actually using the word is "use-mention distinction." In standard English it is normal to offset the mentioned word in some way (here on ELU, and in many other places, we prefer italics, but quotes are common as well); so if you want to make the sentence proper you might write



What is a word made up of 4 letters, yet is made up of 3. Although is written with 8 letters, and then with 4. Rarely consists of 6, and never is written with 5.



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