polysyllabic

English

Etymology

poly- +‎ syllabic

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpɒ.lɪ.sɪˈlæ.bɪk/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌpɔ.lɪ.sɪˈlæ.bɪk/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌpɑ.li.sɪˈlæ.bɪk/
• Rhymes: -æbɪk

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: po‧ly‧syl‧la‧bic

Adjective

polysyllabic (not comparable)

1. (of a word) Having more than one syllable; having multiple or many syllables.

   "Antidisestablishmentarianism" definitely qualifies as a polysyllabic word.

   ‘Polysyllabic’ is a polysyllabic word.

2. (of spoken or written language) Characterized by or consisting of words having numerous syllables.

   I have a particularly off-putting predilection for the utilization of ponderously polysyllabic linguistic constructions.

Usage notes

Authoritative sources disagree concerning the precise number of syllables needed for a word to count as polysyllabic. The references cited below variously stipulate anywhere from more than one syllable to four or more. In general usage, a polysyllabic word is a word which is regarded as lengthy and polysyllabic writing or speech is often regarded as elaborate, overly lengthy, or excessively complex.

Synonyms

• (of a word): multisyllabic

Antonyms

• monosyllabic
• brachysyllabic

Related terms

• polysyllable
• polysyllabicism
• polysyllabicity
• polysyllabism

Translations

having more than one syllable

• Belarusian: шматскладо́вы (šmatskladóvy)
• Bulgarian: многосри́чен (mnogosríčen)
• Catalan: polisíl·lab (ca), polisil·làbic
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多音節的／多音节的 (duōyīnjié de)

• Czech: mnohoslabičný, víceslabičný (cs)
• Dutch: meerlettergrepig
• Faroese: við fleiri stavilsum
• Finnish: monitavuinen (fi)
• French: polysyllabique (fr)
• German: vielsilbig, mehrsilbig (de)
• Greek: πολυσύλλαβος (el) (polysýllavos)
• Hungarian: több szótagú/szótagos
• Irish: ilsiollach
• Italian: plurisillabo, polisillabico, polisillabo
• Japanese: 多音節 (たおんせつ, taonsetsu)
• Korean: 다음절의 (da'eumjeorui)
• Macedonian: повеќесложен (poveḱesložen)
• Manx: yl-heelagh
• Polish: wielosylabowy
• Portuguese: polissilábico, polissílabo (pt)
• Russian: многосло́жный (ru) (mnogoslóžnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: ioma-lideach
• Slovak: viacslabičný
• Spanish: polisílabo (es)
• Swedish: flerstavig (sv)
• Ukrainian: багатоскладо́вий (uk) (bahatoskladóvyj)
• Vietnamese: đa âm tiết, nhiều âm tiết

Noun

polysyllabic (plural polysyllabics)

1. A word having more than one syllable

References

• “polysyllabic”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "polysyllabic" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• “polysyllabic”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
• polysyllabic, multisyllabic, multi-syllable, multisyllable at Google Ngram Viewer