polygamy
po·ly·ga·my/pəˈlɪɡ.ə.mi/noun
polygamy is spelled P-O-L-Y-G-A-M-Y: 8 letters and 4 syllables (po·ly·ga·my). It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, polygamy means “The condition of having more than one spouse or marriage partner at one time” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of polygamy is polygamies.
How many letters and syllables are in polygamy?
| Letters | 8: P-O-L-Y-G-A-M-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: po·ly·ga·my |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 26,420th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is polygamy?
Polygamy appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce polygamy?
- /pəˈlɪɡ.ə.mi/
Polygamy has 4 syllables, split po·ly·ga·my in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-polygamy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of polygamy
- polygamies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does polygamy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The condition of having more than one spouse or marriage partner at one time.
Are there countries where polygamy is legal for both men and women?
- 2
Synonym of polygyny (“marriage of a man to more than one wife, the practice of having several wives at the same time”).
Though Islam allows polygamy, it is frowned upon in many contemporary Muslim societies.
- 3
The state or habit of having more than one sexual mate.
An insect queen actually practices polygamy only one day, while for an alpha-male defending his harem is the very essence of both his status and polygamy.
- 4
The condition or state of a plant which bears both perfect and unisexual flowers.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Polygamy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense the having of a plurality of socially bonded sexual partners at the same time – :
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does polygamy come from?
Recorded since 1591, from Late Latin polygamia, from Ancient Greek πολυγαμία (polugamía), itself from πολύγαμος (polúgamos, “married to many”), from πολύς (polús, “many”) + γάμος (gámos, “marriage”). Relates to modern prefix and suffix poly- + -gamy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).