The story
- Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*polh₁ús
- Ancient Greekπολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)
- English todaypoly-
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek πολύς (polús, “many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *polh₁ús (“much, many”). Unrelated to -poly.
Words from the same roots
Ancient Greekπολύς all →
polymerPolynesiapolytheismpolyarchpolychetepolycroticpolygyridpolylecticpolyphyodont
Proto-Indo-European*polh₁ús all →
polylectic
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.