† polysyllaben.
Origin: Either (i) a borrowing from French. Or (ii) a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French polysyllabe; Latin polysyllaba.
Etymology: < Middle French polysyllabe (1550 as noun; earlier as adjective (1464); French polysyllabe ) or its etymon post-classical Latin polysyllaba word of many syllables (8th cent., 1267 in British sources), use as noun (short for polysyllaba vox polysyllabic word) of feminine of polysyllabus having many syllables (4th cent.) < Hellenistic Greek πολυσύλλαβος polysyllabic < ancient Greek πολυ- poly- comb. form + συλλαβή syllable n. Compare earlier polysyllable n., monosyllabe n.Compare the following slightly earlier unassimilated borrowing from post-classical Latin:1580 G. Harvey Let. to Spenser in Wks. (1884) I. 105 You shal as well..heare fayer, as faire,..with an infinyte companye of the same sorte: sometime Monosyllaba, sometime Polysyllaba.
Scottish.
Obsolete.
rare.
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > [noun] > syllabic sound > syllable > word having specific number > word having two or more syllables
1584 King James VI & I sig. Lij v Gif ȝour Sectioun be nocht..a monosyllabe,..bot the first syllabe of a polysyllabe.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2020).
n.1584