Polynym

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A name (or term) consisting of multiple words.

    "They agree upon one point, viz., the advantages, other things being equal, of mononyms (single word terms) over polynyms (terms consisting of two or more words)."

  2. 2
    One of multiple names for the same thing.

    "Dyaus, the Bright- Shining-One-in-the-Heavens, or Maruna, the All-Surrounding, All- Enduring-One ; or Agni, the Everywhere-Present-One, became the polynyms for God."

  3. 3
    A single word or name with multiple distinct (although possibly related) meanings.

    "A few dictionaries have treated all the meanings sub-meanings of a polynym under one entry."

  4. 4
    A word that is spelled the same as another, but which has a different pronunciation and meaning; homograph.

    ") We have also furnished a list of polynyms, partly from the same source, and partly from Worcester's Dictionary, in Table IX in the Appendix, but we fear that it is not very complete."

Example

More examples

"They agree upon one point, viz., the advantages, other things being equal, of mononyms (single word terms) over polynyms (terms consisting of two or more words)."

Etymology

From poly- + -nym.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.