Other forms: multiples
Multiple means more than one, and usually many. Multiple choice, multiple injuries, on multiple occasions.
As a noun in arithmetic it is exact: twelve is a multiple of four, and the lowest common multiple is the smallest number two others both divide into. In ordinary use it is a slightly official way of saying several. Note the Latin, meaning many-folded.
1adjectivemultipleMore than one, and usually many.
“The driver suffered multiple injuries in the crash.”
2nounnumberA number that another divides into exactly.
“Any multiple of ten ends in a zero.”
multiple is a quantity.
Latin multiplus means manifold, from multus, many, plus a root meaning to fold. Multiply comes from the same folding.
Latin
multiplus
French
multiple
English, today
multiple
From French multiple, itself from Latin multiplus.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA