polysyllable

noun

poly·​syl·​la·​ble ˈpä-lē-ˌsi-lə-bəl How to pronounce polysyllable (audio)
ˌpä-lē-ˈsi-
Synonyms of polysyllablenext
: a polysyllabic word

Word History

Etymology

modification of Medieval Latin polysyllaba, from feminine of polysyllabus

First Known Use

1570, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of polysyllable was in 1570

Dictionary Entries Near polysyllable

polysyllabism

polysyllable

polysyllogism

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Polysyllable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polysyllable. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on polysyllable

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for polysyllable

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Absent Letters That Are Heard Anyway

How to Use Accents and Diacritical Marks

On 'Biweekly' and 'Bimonthly'
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

The Words of the Week - Apr. 19

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)

A Great Big List of Bread Words

9 Superb Owl Words

10 Words for Lesser-Known Games and Sports
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game You can make only 12 words. Pick the best ones!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A crossword with a twist
winning words from the national spelling bee logo
Spelling Bee Quiz Can you outdo past winners of the National Spelli...