Historically ______ can be understood as the growth and development of or change in the meaning of w

Historically ______ can be understood as the growth and development of or change in the meaning of words. A. synonymy B. polysemy C. homonymy D. hyponymy

The historical process described is B. polysemy.

Polysemy refers to a single word developing multiple related meanings over time (e.g., “mouse” as an animal and as a computer device). This fits the idea of growth or change in word meaning historically.

The other options:

A. synonymy: multiple words with similar meanings, not the change of meaning in one word.

C. homonymy: words that sound alike but have unrelated meanings (often by coincidence, not growth of meaning).

D. hyponymy: hierarchical relationships in meaning (e.g., “rose” is a hyponym of “flower”).

Thus, the correct choice is B. polysemy.