polysemy
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polysemy
- /ˈpɒ.lɪ.siː.mi/ UK
- /pəˈlɪ.sɪ.mi/ UK
noun polysemies
-
The quality characteristic of a polyseme, a sign (such as a word or symbol) that has multiple meanings (senses), often including multiple similar ones.
Fifty years ago the linguist and semanticist Stephen Ullmann wrote that polysemy, the fact that some words have a network of multiple but related meanings, is "the pivot of semantic analysis" […]
Opposite: monosemy
Translations
Every language
noun ability to have multiple meanings
| Español | polisemia |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 다의성 dauiseong |
| 日本語 | 多義性 tagisei |
| 中文 | 一詞多義 /一词多义 yīcí duōyì, 多義性 /多义性 duōyìxìng |
| Português | polissemia |
| Français | polysémie |
| Deutsch | Polysemie, Mehrdeutigkeit |
| Italiano | polisemia |
| Ελληνικά | πολυσημία polysimía |
| Română | polisemie |
| Русский | полисеми́я polisemíja, многозна́чность mnogoznáčnostʹ |
| العربية | تَعَدُّدُ مَعَانٍ taʕaddudu maʕānin |
Talk about this word "polysemy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/polysemy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. polysemy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/polysemy "polysemy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/polysemy.
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@misc{polysemy_2026,
title = {polysemy},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/polysemy},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
