What are polysemous words? Is it easy to understand someone if they say 'did you get the bat?' Polysemy refers to a single word with more than one meaning. The multiple meanings are listed under one entry in a dictionary. An example of polysemy is the word dish. If we took a look at the dictionary we see that dish has multiple definitions, or polysemous meanings, under one entry:
- It's your turn to wash the dishes = a kind of plate.
- How long does it take to cook this dish? = a meal.
Both meanings of dish imply some kind of 'food being served'. They're related by sense but have different definitions.
Another example of a polysemous word is wing:
Wing (noun)
- One of the bird's wings is broken = parts of a bird for flying.
- The hospital is building a new wing = a new part of a building.
Again, both meanings refer to 'a section that sticks out from the main body'. The definitions are different but the polysemous words are still related to each other.
Polysemy meaning in linguistics
Polysemy is a linguistic term referring to the phenomenon where a single word or phrase has multiple related meanings. It derives from the Greek words poly (meaning 'many') and sēma (meaning 'sign'). Polysemy is pervasive in natural language and is an essential aspect of language richness and flexibility. The fact that context can determine the specific meaning of a polysemous word illustrates the dynamic nature of language.
Polysemous words are therefore words that have multiple, related meanings. These meanings often share a core concept but differ in specific applications. For example, the word "light" can refer to a physical source of illumination, a color shade, a state of not being heavy, or an aspect of being non-serious in nature. In each case, the word "light" retains a common thread of meaning while being applicable in different contexts.
The opposite of polysemy is monosemy, which is when one word has only one meaning.
Polysemy is related to homonymy (one word that has multiple meanings but is pronounced and/or spelt the same). Additionally, because polysemous words have more than one meaning, they can cause lexical ambiguity. This can happen when someone hears/reads something without the same frame of reference or contextual information as the speaker/writer. For example, 'Let's go to the bank!' isn't clear. Does this mean 'a river bank' or 'a financial institution'?
Examples of polysemy in semantics
Polysemy is commonly encountered in everyday language. For instance:
- "Paper" can refer to a thin material made from cellulose pulp, a newspaper, an academic article, or a set of examination questions.
- "Head" can mean the upper part of the human body, the top or front of something, a person in charge, or the froth on top of a glass of beer.
- "Bank" can signify a financial institution, the land alongside a body of water, or a set in a row (as in a "bank of lights").
Each of these words has multiple related meanings, making them polysemous.
Take a look at an in-depth polysemy example in the sentences below. Find one word that they all have in common:
- He has served his time in prison.
- The free food is served to homeless people only.
- This old bike has served me well.
- The new mall will serve the community well.
- My mom served in the medical corps.
All five sentences use the same verb serve. Although each sentence carries a different sense of serve, they all imply the same meaning of 'giving service':
- He has served his time in prison → spend some time (in prison).
- The free food is served for homeless people only → provide.
- This old bike has served me well → be useful.
- The new mall will serve the community well → provide.
- My mom serves in the medical corps → work as.
Serve is then a very good example of polysemous words. Some other examples of polysemy include:
- Verb: get - receive, bring, move/travel.
- Noun: bank - of a river/canal, a place to deposit money, a slope.
- Adjective: light - colours, not heavy, not serious.
Important to know: One fundamental characteristic of polysemous words is that all the different meanings are associated in related senses. Because of this, polysemous words often have denotative and connotative meanings. For instance: Head: of a body (denotative) and the person at the top of a company (connotative). Bright: shining (denotative) and intelligent (connotative). Run: to move fast on foot (denotative) and manage (connotative).
Polysemy examples in literature
An example of polysemy in literature is seen in an excerpt from Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale (1623) (Act 5, Scene 3) below and analyze the polysemous meaning of the word gallery:
LEONTES
O Paulina,
We honor you with trouble: but we came
To see the statue of our queen: your gallery
Have we pass'd through, not without much content
In many singularities; but we saw not
That which my daughter came to look upon,
The statue of her mother
[...]
PAULINA
As she lived peerless,
So her dead likeness, I do well believe,
Excels whatever yet you look'd upon
Or hand of man hath done; therefore I keep it
Lonely, apart. But here it is: prepare
To see the life as lively mock'd as ever
Still sleep mock'd death: behold, and say 'tis well.
The word gallery has several different polysemous meanings:
- A long corridor to exhibit works of art in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses.
- (In a theatre) the highest of such projecting platforms, containing the cheapest seats.
- A crypt or a catacomb.
At the first glance, you may think the gallery that Shakespeare refers to is 'the corridor to display art' (meaning 1). However, after analyzing Paulina's remark on Leontes, the interpretation of gallery is likely to be a 'crypt/catacomb' (meaning 3). Paulina compares the statue of Hermione to a 'funerary monument' (her dead likeness), instead of a piece of artwork (Sabatier, 2016).
Study tip: Polysemous words are often tricky to interpret. The meaning of the word that the author wants to express can sometimes be “hidden” under another meaning that is more familiar to us. Pay attention to the tone, setting, and context of the prose to fully grasp the author's “real” meaning.
What is the difference between polysemy and homonymy?
There is a crucial difference between polysemic words and homonymic expressions. If you read or hear two words that are written or pronounced the same but have different meanings, they are likely to be either an example of polysemy or homonymy. Deciding what kind of relationship the two words have can be challenging, but not once you understand the differences between these terms.
Polysemous words
- Refers to a word with multiple meanings.
- Are listed under a single dictionary entry.
- Must stem from the same word class, eg noun-noun: mouse (an animal - computer device), wings (parts of birds for flying - part of a building), beam (a line of light - a piece of wood).
- Refers to words with different meanings but with the same pronunciation and/or spelling.
- Are listed under multiple dictionary entries.
- Can be verb-noun combination: to address - an address, to rock - a rock, to park - a park.
Study tip: Homonym is a broad term and can be distinguished from:
Homographs: words with different meanings and pronunciation but written the same, eg, lead (verb) and lead (noun)
Homophones: words with different meanings and spellings but the same pronunciation, eg, write, right, and rite.
Polysemy vs. homonymy
What is the difference between polysemic words and homonymy? Take the word address.
First, analyse the multiple meanings and word class. Address has two meanings and two different word classes:
to speak to (verb) and,
a location (noun).
Second, if the words have multiple forms (multiple entries in a dictionary), eg a verb and noun, they are homonyms. If the two words stem from a single form (one entry in a dictionary), eg a verb or noun, they are polysemies. The word address has two word forms: a verb and a noun. This proves that address is a homonym.
Third, check if the different meanings are related. The two meanings of address ('to speak to' and 'a location') are not related. This further proves that address is a homonym.
In contrast, the word bright ('shining' and 'intelligent') is an example of polysemy because it only has one form (adjective) and both meanings are related. Take a look at the diagram below.
Fig. 1 - Homonymy involves unrelated meanings, whereas polysemy involves related meanings.
Polysemy and homonymy
There are, however, some words that are both examples of polysemy and homonymy, such as date.
- date (noun) means 'a fruit', 'a particular day', and 'a romantic meeting' → polysemy 1
- date (verb) means 'to write a particular day' and 'to have a romantic meeting' → polysemy 2
- This means date (noun) and date (verb) are homonyms.
What is the difference between polysemy and hyponymy?
To explain the difference between polysemous words and hyponymic expressions, let's take the word mouse.
Polysemy describes one word with more than one meaning.
- Mouse has two meanings: an animal (meaning 1) and a computer device (meaning 2).
Because the word mouse has multiple meanings it can cause lexical ambiguity: "Do you mean the animal mouse or the computer device?" Hyponymy describes a super and subordinate relationship between words.
- What are the kinds of mouse?
- There are two kinds of mouse (superordinate): house mouse (subordinate 1) and field mouse (subordinate 2).
Hence, even if the word mouse is used without a specific reference to the house mouse or field mouse, it still indicates the animal mouse. It doesn't cause lexical ambiguity with the other meaning of mouse (a computer device).
Polysemy vs. hyponymy
Through our examples of polysemy, we see that a house mouse and a field mouse aren't the two different meanings of a mouse. Both types of the singular mouse refer to one thing, the animal.
From the perspective of hyponymy, the mouse that is the computer device isn't a kind of the animal mouse. It is a mouse (the connotative meaning of mouse = polysemy).
Fig. 2 - Mouse can refer to a computer device.
Fig. 3 - Mouse can refer to the animal.Based on these two different concepts, we can conclude that:
- Polysemy example: can cause misunderstanding. Does it refer to the animal mouse or the computer device?
- Hyponymy example: doesn't cause misunderstanding. It clearly refers to the animal mouse and not the other meaning of mouse, eg the computer device
Polysemy - Key takeaways
- Polysemy is about a single word with many related meanings.
- The multiple polysemous word meanings are listed under one dictionary entry.
- The opposite of polysemy is monosemy (a word that has one meaning only). All non-polysemous words are monosemous.
- Polysemy differs from homonymy - Homonymy defines words with multiple meanings but are written and/or pronounced the same. The different meanings are unrelated, eg to address (verb) - an address (noun).
- Polysemy also differs from hyponymy - Hyponymy refers to super- and subordinate relationships between words. One word has one meaning but can be divided into several subtypes.
¹ A. Sabatier, Shakespeare and Visual Culture, (2016).
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