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🇫🇷French Source WordCode: FR

polysémie

Pronunciation / Transliteration: poli-se-mi

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Polysemy/pəˈlɪs.ə.mi/
nounCEFR C2 (Proficient)Top #45000 frequency
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🇫🇷 Example Sentence in French:

"La polysémie est une caractéristique fréquente des langues naturelles."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    The coexistence of many possible meanings for a word or phrase.

    "The word 'bank' exhibits polysemy, as it can refer to a financial institution or the side of a river."
  2. 2

    The capacity of a sign, word, or symbol to have multiple distinct meanings derived from a common etymological root.

    "Understanding polysemy is crucial in computational linguistics for accurate word sense disambiguation."
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Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the Modern Latin 'polysemia', originating from Greek 'poly-' meaning 'many' and 'sēma' meaning 'sign' or 'mark'. The term entered linguistic terminology in the late 19th century to describe the capacity of a single word or sign to possess multiple related meanings.

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