polypharmacy
noun
polypharmacy is spelled P-O-L-Y-P-H-A-R-M-A-C-Y: 12 letters. It appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 159,707th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, polypharmacy means “The use of multiple drugs to treat multiple concurrent disorders in the same (now especially elderly) patient, chiefly with connotations of…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in polypharmacy?
| Letters | 12: P-O-L-Y-P-H-A-R-M-A-C-Y |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 28 million words; the 159,707th 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 polypharmacy?
Polypharmacy appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 159,707th 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 polypharmacy?
- US
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-polypharmacy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does polypharmacy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The use of multiple drugs to treat multiple concurrent disorders in the same (now especially elderly) patient, chiefly with connotations of indiscriminate or excessive prescription (involving overmedication and overprescription).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Polypharmacy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Translations:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Multimedikation, Polypharmazie, Polypharmakotherapie |
| Spanish | polimedicación |
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 polypharmacy come from?
From poly- + pharmacy, after Ancient Greek πολυφάρμακος (poluphármakos).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).