polysynthetic

English

Etymology

poly- +‎ synthetic

Pronunciation

• enPR: pŏlēsĭnthĕt'ĭk, IPA^(key): /ˌpɒlisɪnˈθɛtɪk/

Adjective

polysynthetic (comparative more polysynthetic, superlative most polysynthetic)

1. (grammar) said of a language, characterized by a prevalence of relatively long words containing a large number of morphemes. Typically, the morphemes are bound (i.e., they cannot stand alone as independent words). An example of a polysynthetic language is Ojibwe, where:

   • baataanitaaanishinaabemong = "being able to speak Ojibwe."
   • ngiinitaaozhibii'amaadimin = "we used to write to each other."

2. (mineralogy) Having layers of twin crystals

Related terms

• oligosynthetic
• polysynthesis
• polysynthesism
• synthetic

Translations

polysynthetic

• Bulgarian: полисинтети́чен (polisintetíčen)
• Catalan: polisintètic
• Danish: polysyntetisk
• Dutch: polysynthetisch (nl)
• Finnish: polysynteettinen
• French: polysynthétique (fr)
• Galician: polisintético m
• German: polysynthetisch (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: πολυσυνθετικός (polysynthetikós)
• Italian: polisintetico (it)
• Norwegian: polysyntetisk
• Polish: polisyntetyczny
• Portuguese: polissintético
• Russian: полисинтети́ческий (ru) (polisintetíčeskij)
• Spanish: polisintético
• Swedish: polysyntetisk

See also

• agglutinative
• analytic
• fusional
• incorporating
• inflected
• isolating

See also

• Wikipedia article on Polysynthetic language