Polysyllabism

Full definition of polysyllabism

Noun

1. (linguistics) The state or characteristic of having or using words containing multiple syllables, sometimes as a stage in the development of language.
• 1936, Martin Joos, "Book Review: The Psycho-Biology of Language by George K. Zipf," Language, vol. 12, no. 3 (July/Sep), p. 202,Chinese polysyllabism is a sort of synthesis, or aggregation, or 'addition' of morphemes and their meanings.
2. Polysyllabicism.
• 1867, William_Dwight_Whitney, Language and the Study of Language, Scribner, New York, p. 348,Cumbrous compounds are formed as the names of objects and a character of tedious and time-wasting polysyllabism is given to the language.

Related terms

• polysyllabic
• polysyllabicity
• polysyllable