Linguistics: Monosemy

Posted September 12, 2016 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Linguistics, Self-Editing, Writing

Revised as of
7 Mar 2023


Pinterest pin for Monosemy

Monosemy is a very restricted type of linguistic word play as there is only one word and that one word has only one meaning. And obviously, it’s pronounced the same . . . *eye roll* . . .

Monosemies are a subset under homographs, which is itself a subset under homonym (see Table 1 below).

If you break monosemy apart:

Mono- means one

-seme is from sēma and means sign

When a word has just one meaning, it’s completely clear and unambiguous — monosemic. While there are a number of everyday sort of words that are monosemous, most of them are scientific or technical terms, which tend to remain monosemous simply because they are confined to a particular field.

The polysemous words, the opposite of monosemy, are much more common in English.

Click here for a quick look at the differences between them -nyms, -graphs, -phones, and -semys.

Table 1. Quick Re-cap of Linguistic Word Play
Spelling Sounds Meaning Example
Homonym
same same different bark (tree)

bark (dog)
Homograph
same same
OR
different		 different present (gift)

present (introduce)
Heteronym **
same different different row (argument)

row (of seats)
Paronym **
different different derivative childish from child

preface from prefatio

affect vs effect

Capitonym
same, except

1. Proper Noun
2. common noun

 same
or
different		 different

1. March (third month of the year)

2. march (high stepping)

Monosemy *
ONE word same only ONE meaning aunt
Polysemy *
same same
or
different		 shares a common root mouth (hole in your face)

mouth (cave opening)

Homophone
same
or
different		 same different rose (flower)

rose (past tense of rise)

fair

fare
Heterograph
different same different copy right (copy correctly)

copyright (patent)

copywrite (write copy)

* Monosemy is the opposite of polysemy.

** Paronym is the opposite of heteronym.

Linguistics is . . .

. . . the systematic study of the nature, structure, and variation of language (of which grammar is a part), which describes how people use language. For the writer, how words are used (or spelled!) determines a character’s social and educational level and the time period for the story.

As I discover more examples, also-known-ases, and additions, I’ll update this post. If you have a suggestion, I would appreciate you contacting me. If you found this post on “Monosemy” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

Return to top

Monosemy
Part of Speech: Semantics, Word Play, Figure of Speech
Definition: A word or phrase that has but one meaning and there is no question as to what is meant.
Examples:
aunt sister of your father or mother lucrative producing a great deal of profit
cellphone a telephone with access to a cellular radio system so it can be used over a wide area, without a physical connection to a network dahlia a tuberous-rooted Mexican plant of the daisy family, cultivated for its brightly colored single or double flowers
ocarina a small egg-shaped wind instrument with a mouthpiece and holes for the fingers meson a subatomic particle that is intermediate in mass between an electron and a proton and transmits the strong interaction that binds nucleons together in the atomic nucleus
stallion an uncastrated adult male horse cousin related to
spatula an implement with a broad, flat, blunt blade, used for mixing and spreading things, especially in cooking and painting microscope an optical instrument used for viewing very small object

Return to top or post contents

C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Linguistics posts by exploring its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, the Properly Punctuated, Word Confusions, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

Return to top or post contents

Resources for Monosemy

UC-Santa Barbara. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/stgries/research/2015_STG_Polysemy_HbCogLing.pdf>.

“Monosemy.” Vocabulary.com. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/monosemy>.

Return to top or post contents

Pinterest Photo Credits:

The gray casserole dish from above and burgundy casserole dish are Juan de Vojníkov’s own work; Cottage Cheese Pie is FDominec’s own work; and, 3 roasting pans in different sizes and colors is Diana 8220’s own work. All four images are under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Preparation Casserole Piece of Juneda (Step 3) is Kit-arras’ own work in the public domain. All are via Wikimedia Commons.

Kathy's KD Did It signature
«
»