Word.ws English Dictionary

polymath

UK/ˈpɒlɪmæθ//ˈpɑliˌmæθ/

polymath noun: a person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge.

Noun

polymath (plural polymaths)

  1. A person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge.
    • To be thought and held Polumathes and Polihistors.1624, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (2ⁿᵈ edn.), p.6
    • A bit of a polymath, he was crucial in the early development of the railways in this country.2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques”, in RAIL, number 947, page 56

polymath meaning in Bengali, Arabic and Persian

polymath in Bengali

বহুবিদ

polymath in Arabic

person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge
عَلَّامَة ʕallāma, بحر العلوم

polymath in Persian

person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge
همهچیزدان hame-čizdân, پردانش porrdâneš

Synonyms of polymath

Forms of polymath

pluralpolymaths
alternative formpolumathe
alternative formpolymathe

Origin of polymath

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek πολυμαθής (polumathḗs, “having learnt much”), first attested in 1624. From πολύς (polús, “much”) (for more, see poly-) + μανθάνω (manthánō, “to learn”). Compare opsimath, philomath, polyhistor, polymathic, polymathist, and polymathy.

Words formed from polymath

Questions about polymath

What does polymath mean?
Polymath means a person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge.
What is polymath in Bengali?
Polymath in Bengali is বহুবিদ. See Polymath meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is polymath?
Polymath is a noun.
How do you pronounce polymath?
Polymath is pronounced /ˈpɒlɪmæθ/ (UK).
What is the plural of polymath?
The plural of polymath is polymaths.

Words near polymath in the dictionary

  1. polymastism
  2. polymastodont
  3. polymastodonts
  4. polymastoid
  5. polymasty
  6. polymath
  7. polymathe
  8. polymathes
  9. polymathic
  10. polymathically
  11. polymathist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: polymath (page history and authors); polymath (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-polymath.ogg.

Cite this entry: “polymath.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/polymath. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.