Polywords

In linguistics, polywords are:

• Short one or two-word phrases that consistently co-occur in text
• Fixed expressions that function as a single unit with a specific meaning
• A type of lexical chunk that must be understood as one coherent concept

Examples include:

• Idioms
• Set phrases
• Chunks of language that behave like a single word

The concept is part of the lexical approach to language teaching, developed by linguist Michael Lewis in 1993, which focuses on understanding language as interconnected lexical units rather than isolated grammatical structures.