Looking to dramatically enhance your personal lexicon or just want to better understand the English language? Learn the common roots, prefixes, and suffixes that so many of our words are based on, and you’ll have the tools to recognize familiar words or decode unfamiliar ones. That’s what Roots2Words is all about!
Your Roots2Words Affix of the Week is POLY-:
POLY- is a prefix meaning more than one, many, or excessive.
(Prefixes appear at the beginning of words)
**EXAMPLES**
polygamy (noun) – the condition of having more than one romantic partner or spouse at one time
BREAKDOWN: POLY- (more than one) + -GAMY (marriage or union)
— polygamous means married to more than one partner at a time
— polygyny is the condition of having more than one wife at a time
— polyandry is the condition of having more than one husband at a time
polyglot (adj) – able to speak or made up of many languages
BREAKDOWN: POLY- (more than one) + GLOT- (tongue)
polygon (noun) – a plane figure with at least three straight sides and angles
BREAKDOWN: POLY- (more than one) + -GON (corner or angle)
polyhedron (noun) – a solid figure with many flat faces and straight edges
BREAKDOWN: POLY- (more than one) + -HEDRON (face)
polymath(noun) – a person with extraordinarily comprehensive knowledge across several fields of study
BREAKDOWN: POLY- (more than one) + MATH- (learning)
polymorphism (noun) – the ability to assume different shapes; the existence of multiple distinct forms
BREAKDOWN: POLY- (more than one) + MORPH- (shape) + -ISM (state of)
polysemic (noun) – having more than one meaning or interpretation (also polysemous, polysemantic)
BREAKDOWN: POLY- (more than one) + SEM- (signal) + -IC (pertaining to)
— a polyseme is a word or phrase that has multiple meanings
— polysemy is the state of having, or the ability of words and symbols to have, multiple meanings
polysyllabic (noun) – consisting of or using more than one syllable
BREAKDOWN: POLY- (more than one) + SYL- (same) + LAB- (take) + -IC (pertaining to)
polytheistic (adj) – adhering to a belief in more than one god, deity, or spirit, often in the same pantheon
BREAKDOWN: POLY- (more than one) + THEO- (god) + -IST (one who does) + -IC (pertaining to)
**INTERESTING VARIATIONS**
-POLY also appears as a suffix, which also means sale or one who sells in words like duopoly, monopoly, and oligopoly.
If you love learning new words every week, imagine how much fun you’ll find learning new roots and words every day for FREE. Subscribe to the Roots2Words Essentials program!