Polygamizing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Causing a society or group to adopt the practice of having several spouses at the same time, as a form of marriage arrangement
2. Bringing about a system in which one person takes multiple partners in marriage simultaneously within a community
3. Converting a monogamous arrangement into one where a person maintains several marriages concurrently under a shared household

Etymology: Polygamizing is the present participle of "polygamize", which is simply "polygamy" plus the verb-forming suffix "-ize". Polygamy itself comes from Greek "polygamia", built from "polys" (many) and "gamos" (marriage), so the whole word means something like "making many marriages." The suffix does the real work here: it comes from Greek "-izein", passed through Late Latin "-izare" and Middle French "-iser" before reaching English as "-ize", and it turns a noun into an action, so "polygamize" means to make someone practise polygamy, or to introduce it into a community.