Etymology

polysemic

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Today it means: Having a number of senses (meanings) or understandings. Full definition →

English polyseme ← Ancient Greek σῆμα (sêma) ← Proto-Hellenic *tsā́mə?
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*polh₁ús
  3. Ancient Greekπολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)
  4. Englishpoly-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeyh₂-?
  6. Proto-Indo-European*dʰyeh₂-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*dʰyéh₂mn̥
  8. Proto-Hellenic*tsā́mə?
  9. Ancient Greekσῆμα (sêma)
  10. Englishseme
  11. Englishpolyseme
  12. English todaypolysemic

From polyseme + -ic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.