Polysemy

Definition

Dick Hebdige says polysemy means that, "each text is seen to generate a potentially infinite range of meanings,"

Polysemy is the association of one word with two or more distinct meanings. A polyseme is a word or phrase with multiple meanings.

Polysemy is words which have multiple meaning that are related conceptually or historically.

Example

foot in : - He hurt his foot ;

- She stood at the foot of the stairs.

Man

1.      The human species (i.e., man vs. animal)

2.      Males of the human species (i.e., man vs. woman)

3.      Adult males of the human species (i.e., man vs. boy)

This example shows the specific polysemy where the same word is used at different levels of a taxonomy. Example 1 contains 2, and 2 contains 3.

Mole

1.      a small burrowing mammal

2.      consequently, there are several different entities called moles (see the Mole disambiguation page). Although these refer to different things, their names derive from 1. :e.g. A Mole burrows for information hoping to go undetected.

Bank

1.      a financial institution

2.      the building where a financial institution offers services

3.      a synonym for 'rely upon' (e.g. "I'm your friend, you can bank on me"). It is different, but related, as it derives from the theme of security initiated by 1.

However: a river bank is a homonym to 1 and 2, as they do not share etymologies. It is a completely different meaning.^[15] River bed, though, is polysemous with the beds on which people sleep

The difference between homonyms and polysemes is subtle. Lexicographers define polysemes within a single dictionary lemma, numbering different meanings, while homonyms are treated in separate lemmata. Semantic shift can separate a polysemous word into separate homonyms. For example, check as in "bank check" (or Cheque) , check in chess, and check meaning "verification" are considered homonyms, while they originated as a single word derived from chess in the 14th century.

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