Meanings
plural polysemies
- uncountableusuallyhuman sciencesThe quality characteristic of a polyseme, a sign (such as a word or symbol) that has multiple meanings (senses), often including multiple similar ones.
Polysemy proliferates in natural language: Virtually every word is polysemous to some extent.
2017 July 27, Agustín Vicente and Ingrid L. Falkum, “Polysemy”, in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Oxford University Press1 more example
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" […]
2011, Brigitte Nerlich, Polysemy: Flexible Patterns of Meaning in Mind and Language, page 3Antonyms: monosemy
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe quality characteristic of a polyseme, a sign (such as a word or symbol) that has multiple meanings (senses), often including multiple similar ones.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe ambiguity of an individual word or phrase that can be used (in different contexts) to express two or more different meanings
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*polh₁ús
- Ancient Greekπολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)
- Englishpoly-
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeyh₂-?
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰyeh₂-
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰyéh₂mn̥
- Proto-Hellenic*tsā́mə?
- Ancient Greekσῆμα (sêma)
- Englishseme
- Englishpolyseme
- Englishpolysemy
Translations
Arabic تَعَدُّدُ مَعَانٍ
- تَعَدُّدُ مَعَانٍ (taʕaddudu maʕānin)ability to have multiple meanings
Basque polisemia
- polisemiaability to have multiple meanings
Bulgarian полисемия
- полисемия (polisemija)ability to have multiple meanings
Catalan polisèmia
- polisèmiaability to have multiple meanings
Chinese Cantonese 多義性 /多义性
- 多義性 /多义性ability to have multiple meanings
Chinese Mandarin 一詞多義 /一词多义, 多義性 /多义性
- 一詞多義 /一词多义 (yīcí duōyì)ability to have multiple meanings
- 多義性 /多义性 (duōyìxìng)ability to have multiple meanings
Czech polysémie
- polysémieability to have multiple meanings
Danish polysemi
- polysemiability to have multiple meanings
Dutch polysemie
- polysemieability to have multiple meanings
Esperanto polisemio
- polisemioability to have multiple meanings
Finnish polysemia, monimerkityksisyys
- polysemiaability to have multiple meanings
- monimerkityksisyysability to have multiple meanings
French polysémie
- polysémieability to have multiple meanings
German Polysemie, Mehrdeutigkeit
- Polysemieability to have multiple meanings
- Mehrdeutigkeitability to have multiple meanings
Greek πολυσημία
- πολυσημία (polysimía)ability to have multiple meanings
Hungarian poliszémia
- poliszémiaability to have multiple meanings
Indonesian polisemi
- polisemiability to have multiple meanings
Irish ilchiallachas
- ilchiallachasability to have multiple meanings
Italian polisemia
- polisemiaability to have multiple meanings
Japanese 多義性
- 多義性 (tagisei)ability to have multiple meanings
Korean 다의성
- 다의성 (dauiseong)ability to have multiple meanings
Latvian polisēmija
- polisēmijaability to have multiple meanings
Lithuanian polisemija
- polisemijaability to have multiple meanings
Norwegian Bokmål polysemi
- polysemiability to have multiple meanings
Persian چندمعنایی
- چندمعناییability to have multiple meanings
Polish polisemia, wieloznaczność
- polisemiaability to have multiple meanings
- wieloznacznośćability to have multiple meanings
Portuguese polissemia
- polissemiaability to have multiple meanings
Romanian polisemie
- polisemieability to have multiple meanings
Russian полисеми́я, многозна́чность
- полисеми́я (polisemíja)ability to have multiple meanings
- многозна́чность (mnogoznáčnostʹ)ability to have multiple meanings
Slovak polysémia, mnohoznačnosť
- polysémiaability to have multiple meanings
- mnohoznačnosťability to have multiple meanings
Spanish polisemia
- polisemiaability to have multiple meanings
Swedish polysemi
- polysemiability to have multiple meanings
Turkish çokanlamlılık
- çokanlamlılıkability to have multiple meanings
Ukrainian полісемія, багатозначність
- полісемія (polisemija)ability to have multiple meanings
- багатозначність (bahatoznačnistʹ)ability to have multiple meanings
Welsh amlystyredd
- amlystyreddability to have multiple meanings
Cite this entry
polysemy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polysemy
“polysemy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polysemy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “polysemy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polysemy.
Source: polysemy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.