polysemy is a concept in the area of linguistics from the Greek term polysemos, which means "something that has many meanings". A polysemic word is a word that brings together various meanings.
The word "candle" is one of the examples of polysemy. It can mean the sail of a boat; the candle made of wax that is used to light or it can be the conjugation of the verb velar, which means to be vigilant.
The different variants of meaning may depend on the etymological affinity of the word in question, its metaphorical use and, in ultimately, from the context in which it is inserted, where, in practice, the term is monosemic, thus ensuring the Communication.
Polysemy is a basic property of lexical units and a structural element of language. The opposite of polysemy is monosemy, where a word has only one meaning.
Polysemy and Homonymy
Confusion between polysemy and homonymy is quite common. When the same word has several meanings, we are in the presence of polysemy. On the other hand, when two or more words with different origins and meanings have the same spelling and phonology, we are faced with a homonymy.
The word "manga" is a case of homonymy. It can mean a fruit or a part of a shirt. It is not polysemy because the different meanings for the word manga have different origins, and for that some scholars mention that the word manga should have more than one entry in the dictionary.
"Letter" is a polysemic word. Lyrics can mean the basic element of the alphabet, the text of a song or the handwriting of a particular individual. In this case, the different meanings are interconnected because they refer to the same concept, that of writing.
Polysemy and ambiguity
Polysemy and ambiguity have a big impact on interpretation. In Portuguese, an utterance can be ambiguous, that is, it presents more than one interpretation. This ambiguity can occur due to the specific placement of a word (eg an adverb) in a sentence. Let's look at the following sentence: People who have a balanced diet are often happy.. In this case there can be two different interpretations. People have a balanced diet because they are happy or they are happy because they have a balanced diet.
Likewise, when a word is polysemic, it can induce a person to do more than one interpretation. To make the correct interpretation, it is very important to know the context in which the sentence is uttered.