bilingual

See also: bi-lingual

English

Alternative forms

• bi-lingual (rare)

Etymology

From Latin bilinguis +‎ -al; equivalent to bi- +‎ lingual.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baɪˈlɪŋ.ɡwəl/, /baɪˈlɪŋ.ɡju.əl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋɡwəl, -ɪŋɡjuəl

Adjective

bilingual (not comparable)

1. Having the ability to speak two languages fluently.

   Synonyms: diglot, two-tongued

   Hypernym: multilingual

   • 1998, Bruce Fife, The Birthday Party Business, →ISBN, page 176:

     Since she is bilingual she has them written in both English and Spanish.

2. Spoken or written in two different languages.

   Hypernym: multilingual

   a bilingual dictionary

   • 2020 December 30, Paul Stephen, “Chirk station is truly blooming”, in Rail, page 48:

     All signage in and around the station is bilingual in Welsh and English, while station announcements and passenger information screens provide real-time information.

3. Characterized by the use or presence of two languages.

   Hypernym: multilingual

   bilingual education

   • 2018 December 12, Cleve R. Wootson Jr., “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s new favorite pastime appears to be trolling conservative critics”, in The Washington Post‎^[1]:

     Ocasio-Cortez’s trolling went bilingual in November when a Fox News show, “The Story,” had a prime-time discussion about Ocasio-Cortez’s shoes, including an acknowledgment that the network spent a lot of time talking about a woman who had not even been sworn into Congress yet.

Synonyms

• two-tongued

Derived terms

• bilingual dictionary
• bilingualism
• bilinguality

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: バイリンガル (bairingaru)
• → Polish: bilingwalny

Translations

speaking two languages

• Afrikaans: tweetalig
• Albanian: dygjuhësh (sq)
• Arabic: ثُنَائِي اَللُّغَة‎ (ṯunāʔī l-luḡa)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܬܪܲܝܵܢܵܝ ܠܸܫܵܢܹ̈ܐ‎ m (trayyānāy liššānē), ܬܪܲܝܵܢܵܝܲܬ ܠܸܫܵܢܹ̈ܐ‎ f (trayyānāyat liššānē)
• Asturian: billingüe
• Basque: elebidun (eu)
• Belarusian: двухмо́ўны (dvuxmóŭny), дзвюхмо́ўны (dzvjuxmóŭny)
• Bengali: দ্বিভাষিক (bn) (dibhaśik)
• Breton: divyezhek (br)
• Bulgarian: двуезичен (dvuezičen)
• Catalan: bilingüe
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雙語／双语 (zh) (shuāngyǔ)

• Czech: dvojjazyčný
• Danish: tosproget, tvesproget
• Dutch: tweetalig (nl)
• Esperanto: dulingva
• Estonian: kakskeelne
• Finnish: kaksikielinen (fi)
• French: bilingue (fr)
• Galician: bilingüe
• Georgian: ორენოვანი (orenovani), ორენიანი (oreniani)
• German: zweisprachig (de), bilingual (de)
• Greek: δίγλωσσος (el) m (díglossos)
• Hebrew: דו-לשוני‎
• Hindi: द्विभाषी (hi) (dvibhāṣī)
• Hungarian: bilingvis (hu), kétnyelvű (hu)
• Icelandic: tvítyngdur
• Ido: bilingua (io)
• Interlingua: bilingue
• Irish: dátheangach
• Italian: bilingue (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 二言語を自由に話せる (にげんごをじゆうにはなせる, ni gengo o jiyūni hanaseru), バイリンガルの (ja) (bairingaru no)
• Khmer: ឧភយពាក្យ (u’pʰea’yea’ piek), ពីរភាសា (pii pʰiesaa)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 두 개(個) 국어(國語)를 말하다 (du gae gugeo-reul malhada)
• Macedonian: двоја́зичен m (dvojázičen)
• Manx: daa-hengagh
• Navajo: saad naaki yidiitsʼaʼ
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bilingv, bilingval, tospråklig (no)

  Nynorsk: bilingv, bilingval, tospråkleg

• Pashto: دوه ژبی‎ (ps) (dwa žëbay)
• Persian: دوزبانه‎ (fa)
• Polish: dwujęzyczny (pl), bilingwalny (pl)
• Portuguese: bilíngue (pt), bilingue (pt) m or f
• Romanian: bilingv (ro)
• Russian: двуязы́чный (ru) (dvujazýčnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: dà-chànanach, dà-theangach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: двојѐзичан, би̏лингва̄лан

  Roman: dvojèzičan (sh), bȉlingvālan (sh)

• Slovak: dvojjazyčný
• Spanish: bilingüe (es)
• Swedish: tvåspråkig (sv)
• Tagalog: dalwika
• Thai: สองภาษา
• Ukrainian: двомо́вний (dvomóvnyj)
• Vietnamese: song ngữ
• Welsh: dwyieithog (cy)

written in two languages

• Arabic: ثُنَائِي اَللُّغَة‎ (ṯunāʔī l-luḡa)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܬܪܲܝܵܢܵܝ ܠܸܫܵܢܹ̈ܐ‎ m (trayyānāy liššānē), ܬܪܲܝܵܢܲܬ ܠܸܫܵܢܹ̈ܐ‎ f (trayyānat liššānē)
• Asturian: billingüe
• Basque: elebidun (eu)
• Bengali: দ্বিভাষিক (bn) (dibhaśik)
• Breton: divyezhek (br)
• Bulgarian: двуезичен (dvuezičen)
• Catalan: bilingüe
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雙語／双语 (zh) (shuāngyǔ)

• Czech: dvojjazyčný
• Danish: tosproget, tvesproget
• Dutch: tweetalig (nl)
• Esperanto: dulingva
• Estonian: kakskeelne
• Finnish: kaksikielinen (fi)
• Galician: bilingüe
• Georgian: ორენოვანი (orenovani), ბილინგვური (bilingvuri)
• German: zweisprachig (de)
• Greek: δίγλωσσος (el) m (díglossos)
• Hindi: द्विभाषी (hi) (dvibhāṣī)
• Hungarian: kétnyelvű (hu)
• Icelandic: tveggja mála, tvímála
• Ido: bilingua (io)
• Interlingua: bilingue
• Irish: dátheangach
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 二言語で書かれた (にげんごでかかれた, ni gengo de kakareta)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 두 나라말로 쓰인 (du naramal-lo sseu'in)
• Macedonian: двоја́зичен m (dvojázičen)
• Malay: dwibahasa (ms)
• Manx: daa-hengagh
• Pashto: دوه ژبی‎ (ps) (dwa žëbay)
• Persian: دوزبانه‎ (fa)
• Polish: dwujęzyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: bilíngue (pt), bilingue (pt) m or f
• Romanian: bilingv (ro)
• Russian: двуязы́чный (ru) (dvujazýčnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: dà-chànanach, dà-theangach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: двојѐзичан

  Roman: dvojèzičan (sh)

• Spanish: bilingüe (es)
• Tagalog: dalwika
• Thai: สองภาษา
• Vietnamese: song ngữ
• Welsh: dwyieithog (cy)

See also

• biliterate
• biscriptal
• sesquilingual

Noun

bilingual (plural bilinguals)

1. A person who is able to use two languages.

Translations

a person who is bilingual

• Basque: elebidun (eu)
• Catalan: bilingüe m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 會雙語的人／会双语的人 (huì shuāngyǔ de rén)

• Dutch: tweetalige (nl)
• Esperanto: dulingvano, dulingvulo
• Finnish: kaksikielinen (fi)
• Galician: bilingüe m
• Hungarian: kétnyelvű (hu)
• Japanese: 二言語に通じた人 (にげんごにつうじたひと (ni gengo ni tsūjita hito))
• Korean: 두 개(個) 국어(國語)를 말하는 사람 (du gae gugeo-reul malhaneun saram)
• Manx: daa-hengagh m
• Polish: dwujęzykowiec m (rare), bilingwista m
• Portuguese: bilíngue (pt) m or f, diglota m or f
• Romanian: bilingv (ro) m, bilingvă f
• Russian: билингв (ru) m (bilingv)
• Spanish: bilingüe (es) m or f

Further reading

• bilingual on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

German

Etymology

bi- +‎ lingual

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

bilingual (strong nominative masculine singular bilingualer, not comparable)

1. bilingual

   Synonym: zweisprachig

Declension

Positive forms of bilingual (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist bilingual	sie ist bilingual	es ist bilingual	sie sind bilingual
strong declension (without article)	nominative	bilingualer	bilinguale	bilinguales	bilinguale
	genitive	bilingualen	bilingualer	bilingualen	bilingualer
	dative	bilingualem	bilingualer	bilingualem	bilingualen
	accusative	bilingualen	bilinguale	bilinguales	bilinguale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der bilinguale	die bilinguale	das bilinguale	die bilingualen
	genitive	des bilingualen	der bilingualen	des bilingualen	der bilingualen
	dative	dem bilingualen	der bilingualen	dem bilingualen	den bilingualen
	accusative	den bilingualen	die bilinguale	das bilinguale	die bilingualen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein bilingualer	eine bilinguale	ein bilinguales	(keine) bilingualen
	genitive	eines bilingualen	einer bilingualen	eines bilingualen	(keiner) bilingualen
	dative	einem bilingualen	einer bilingualen	einem bilingualen	(keinen) bilingualen
	accusative	einen bilingualen	eine bilinguale	ein bilinguales	(keine) bilingualen

Further reading

• “bilingual” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “bilingual” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon