this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2025
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The word for a market dominated by only a few very large players is oligopoly, not... polyopoly.
Not saying you're saying that, just saying.
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As to the etymology...
Its derives from Greek.
A monopoly has one (mono) influential seller for many (poly) consumers.
An oligopoly has a few, wealthy (oligo, as in oligarch, oligarchy) sellers for many (poly) consumers.
Importantly, in Greek, poly is closely related to polis, meaning basically 'all of the people/citizens'.
This is also where English gets 'Politics' from.
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Also, I wrote a whole other comment, but the mere existence of any competitors, no matter how small... doesn't mean you aren't a monopoly.
Its just means you aren't a perfect monopoly, which basically never exists in real life, outside of public utilities.
If the rubric for 'is it a monopoly?' was 'do any competitors exist?', then basically no company that's ever been broken up or regulated for being a monopoly was actually a monopoly.