What are polysemantic words? Examples in Russian

In order to convey this or that information, a person uses words, each of which has its own lexical meaning. That is, a certain idea in the speaker’s mind. Thanks to him, one person understands or does not understand (if he puts another meaning) on ​​the other.

All the variety of vocabulary can be divided into single and ambiguous words. Examples in the Russian language of the latter are the topic of this article.

Bit of theory

There are fewer unambiguous words. These include:

• various terms - colon, gastritis, kilogram;
• proper names - Volga, Elena, Penza;
• reappeared in the language - briefing, pizzeria, gadget;
• narrowly significant nouns - binoculars, trolley, melon.

Having more than one meaning is ambiguous words of the Russian language, examples of which we will analyze in more detail. There are many more of them and it is possible to understand what meaning the speaker puts into them only in the context of a phrase. If you open an explanatory dictionary, you can see that the same concept belongs to several descriptions or articles, numbered by numbers. For example, the word “take” can be found 14 meanings, and the “go” - 26.

Any part of speech can be ambiguous: verbs, nouns, adjectives. The exception is the numerals. Children begin to get to know the topic in the 4th grade, where they are taught to distinguish homonyms and polysemantic words in Russian.

Examples (4th grade)

Acquaintance of children with a new topic is organized by the example of a specific word. So, if you consider the noun "button", then you can find three meanings in it:

1. Clerical pins paper on a table or wall.
2. The bell button is used to click on it. Then a melody or beep will sound.
3. The button on the dress or other clothing serves as a clasp.

What is important here? What distinguishes ambiguous words? The examples in the Russian language clearly demonstrate that they should be similar in some way. Indeed, the button in all cases is a small round object, which serves to connect things together.

Homonyms are words that have similarities in spelling, but have completely different meanings. For example, "braid". A noun can mean an agricultural tool and at the same time a female hairstyle.

Consider other examples with different parts of speech. Nouns:

• A sleeve is a part of clothes; water flow separated from the main channel; pipe for the removal of gases or liquids, for example, a fireman.
• The comb is cocks; comb; top of the mountain.
• The brush is part of the hand; accessory of the artist; rowan fruits; shawl completion.

Verbs:

• To bury - hide in a pillow; plunge into reading .
• Collect - thoughts, crops, things, evidence .
• Born - an idea, a daughter, a thought .

Adjectives:

• Heavy - character, period, suitcase .
• Sour - facial expression, apple.
• Gold - earrings, words, hands.

Multiple words: examples in Russian, Grade 5

At an older age, students comprehend what the direct as well as figurative meaning of the word is. The subject, phenomenon or its characteristic, most often associated with a specific concept and used in various contexts, is the first option. There can also be more than one commonly used value. For example, the word "bread". It is considered in two aspects:

• Like a grain. This year will be an excellent harvest of bread .
• Like a product. The store was closed, so yesterday’s bread was eaten at the table .

In a figurative case, a particle of direct meaning transfers to another object or phenomenon based on some similarity. For example, the word "father". Means the person who is raising a son or daughter. When the unit commander is called the father’s family, it is assumed that he surrounds conscript soldiers with parental care. And in this case we are dealing with a figurative meaning.

Consider other examples in the proposed table:

Nominal and characterizing value

What is more difficult to understand polysemantic words? Examples in Russian show that the ability to distinguish the nominative and characterizing their meaning is required. Otherwise, it is difficult to understand the information transmitted by the author of the phrase.

According to V.V. Vinogradov, the nominative value is associated with the reflection of reality and is freely (easily) combined with other words. Consider this with the example of the word "father":

• Father returned from work. We have a direct nominative meaning.

It will be nominative in the following version:

• The father of the hydrogen bomb. Only already in figurative meaning, as understood earlier.

But in the phrase that was already considered in the text, the meaning will be not only figurative, but also characterizing:

• The commander is a father . The word as if transfers certain features to the concept of "commander." Which specifically? Caring, attentive, understanding.

Extended value

This is another important value that characterizes polysemous words (examples in Russian will be given below). In this case, a certain characteristic is endowed with a whole concept or a large number of people or objects. For example, the title of the book “Fathers and Sons” implies that the word “father” hides an entire generation of people united by age.

More examples of ambiguous words with extended meanings in sentences:

• Bread is the whole head (head).
• Ice cream - shine (shine).
• You always need to beat first (beat).
• To be, not to seem (to be, seem).
• People whose life is hard (hard).

So, the studied words can always be found in the explanatory dictionary. The latter confirms that there are more than unambiguous ones, and they give special paints in the presentation of thoughts. They are actively used by writers, where much is built on a pun, and careful attention to the context of the phrase.