polygamy

/pəˈlɪɡəˌmi/puh-LIH-guh-mee

Meaningmany marriages

Common meaning: having several spouses at once

polymuch; manyLiddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), p. 658 · scan
gammarriageLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 299 · scan
ynoun ending: study, state or act

‘much’ + ‘marriage’ → polygamy

Journey through time

poly — Ancient Greek πολύς (polús) “much; many” (path traced)
gam — Greek γάμος “marriage” (path traced)

Parts join in Latin as polygamia.

Greekπολύς (polús) + γάμος‘much + marriage’
Latinpolygamia
Frenchpolygamie
Englishpolygamy‘having several spouses at once’ · today

poly also in: polygon polyglot polymath polygraph polyhedron

gam also in: bigamy monogamy

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Ancient Greek πολύς (polús) ‘much; many’ + Greek γάμος ‘marriage’.

Did you know (Greek polys, "many",…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), entry πολύς (polús), p. 658 · dictionary scan

Did you know (Greek gamos, marriage,…): our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), entry γάμος, p. 299 · dictionary scan

Roots

γάμος Greek “marriage”
πολύς (polús) Ancient Greek “much; many”

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