polysemy
noun [ U ] uk/pəˈlɪs.ɪ.mi/ us/ˈpɑː.lɪ.siː.mi/
一词多义
the fact of having more than one meaning
Polysemy occurs when a word form carries more than one meaning. 当一个词带有一个以上的意义时，就会出现多义性。
English has a very large stock of word forms, so its lexicon is relatively free of polysemy compared with many languages. 英语有着非常丰富的词汇形式，因此与许多语言相比，英语词汇中的多义现象相对较少。
See: polysemous
- More examples
- Polysemy is exemplified by words like "run" and "set" each of which has a very large number of senses, many of which seem unrelated.
- Numerous publications underline the polysemy of 'entrepreneurship'.
- It seems that polysemy is the rule rather than the exception.