Abstract:Polysemy is a universal phenomenon in human languages. This paper analyzes polysemy in view of prototype theory, and the conclusion can be drawn that polysemy shows the characteristics of the prototypical structure, family resemblance and opermess of categorization. Within the semantic category of polysemy, the prototype can be split into variants. To analyze polysemy in that way helps to master polysemy in general and coincides with human cognition.