polysemy

polyseme +‎ -y

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒ.lɪ.siː.mi/, /pə.ˈlɪ.sɪ.mi/

polysemy (usually uncountable, plural polysemies)

1. (semantics) The property of a word, sign or symbol that can represent multiple meanings, including multiple similar ones.
   • 2011, Brigitte Nerlich, Polysemy: Flexible Patterns of Meaning in Mind and Language, page 3:

     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" (Ullmann 1957 [1951]: 117).

• monosemy

• polysemic
• polysemous

• homonymy