polysemous

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English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin polysēmus, from Ancient Greek πολύσημος (polúsēmos), from πολύς (polús, many) + σημαίνω (sēmaínō, I signify, mean).

Pronunciation

Adjective

polysemous (not comparable)

  1. (linguistics) Synonym of polysemic.
    • 2000, Yael Ravin, Claudia Leacock, Polysemy: Theoretical and Computational Approaches, Oxford: OUP, →ISBN, page 52:
      But just how are the meanings associated with a polysemous word related? A look at the entries for polysemous words in different dictionaries shows that lexicographers cannot agree on how to divide up the semantic space []

Translations