fluent

English

Etymology

Latin fluens (“flowing”), present active participle of fluō (“I flow”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfluːənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfluənt/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈfljuːɛnt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊənt

Adjective

fluent (comparative more fluent, superlative most fluent)

1. That flows; flowing, liquid.

   fluent handwriting

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     For time is a fleeting thing, and which appeareth as in a shadow, with the matter ever gliding, alwaies fluent, without ever being stable or permanent […].

2. (linguistics) Able to use a language accurately, rapidly, and confidently – in a flowing way.

   She's fluent in French.

   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

     The clerk had, I'm afraid, a shrew of a wife—shrill, vehement, and fluent.

Usage notes

In casual use, “fluency” refers to language proficiency broadly, while in narrow use, it refers to using a language flowingly, rather than haltingly.

Synonyms

• (that flows): fluent; see also Thesaurus:flowing or Thesaurus:runny

Derived terms

• fluent interface
• socially fluent

 

Related terms

• fluency
• fluently

Translations

that flows; flowing, liquid

• Bulgarian: течен (bg) (tečen), подвижен (bg) (podvižen)
• German: fließend (de)
• Latin: fluens, prōfluens

able to speak a language accurately and confidently

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: طَلِق‎ (ṭaliq), فَصِيح‎ (faṣīḥ)

  Egyptian Arabic: لبلب‎ (lebleb)

• Armenian: սահուն (hy) (sahun), վարժ (hy) (varž), արագախոս (hy) (aragaxos)
• Basque: arin
• Belarusian: бе́глы m (bjéhly)
• Bulgarian: свободен (bg) (svoboden)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 流利 (lau⁴ lei⁶)

  Mandarin: 流利 (zh) (liúlì), 滔滔 (zh) (tāotāo), 暢達／畅达 (zh) (chàngdá)

  Min Nan: 輾轉／辗转 (zh-min-nan) (liàn-tńg)

• Czech: plynulý m, plynný (cs) m
• Danish: flydende (da)
• Dutch: vloeiend (nl)
• Esperanto: flua
• Estonian: sujuv
• Finnish: sujuva (fi)
• French: parler couramment (be fluent in)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: fließend (de), flüssig (de)
• Greek: ρευστός (el) (refstós), με ευχέρεια (me efchéreia), ευφραδής (el) (effradís)

  Ancient: εὔροος (eúroos)

• Hawaiian: poeko
• Hebrew: משוטף‎ (mishutaf)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: folyékony (hu)
• Icelandic: reiprennandi, altalandi
• Ido: eloquenta (io)
• Indonesian: fasih (id), lancar (id)
• Italian: fluido (it) m or f
• Japanese: ぺらぺら (perapera), 流暢な (りゅうちょうな, ryūchō-na), すらすら (ja) (surasura)
• Kalmyk: усн (usn), келтә (keltä)
• Khmer: ស្ទាត់ (km) (stŏət)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: fluens, prōfluens
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: fasih (ms)
• Maori: matatau
• Norwegian: flytende

  Bokmål: flytende

  Nynorsk: flytande

• Polish: płynny (pl), biegły (pl)
• Portuguese: fluente (pt) m or f
• Romanian: fluent (ro)
• Russian: бе́глый (ru) (béglyj), свобо́дный (ru) (svobódnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: siùbhlach
• Serbo-Croatian: tečan (sh)
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Slovene: tekoče
• Spanish: fluido (es)
• Swedish: flytande (sv)
• Tagalog: bihasa (tl), matatas (tl)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: คล่อง (th) (klɔ̂ng), คล่องแคล่ว (th)
• Turkish: akıcı (tr)
• Ukrainian: ві́льно (uk) (vílʹno)
• Vietnamese: lưu loát (vi), trôi chảy (vi), thành thạo (vi)
• Welsh: rhugl (cy)
• Yiddish: פֿליסיק‎ (flisik)

Noun

fluent (plural fluents)

1. (mathematics, obsolete) A continuous variable, especially one with respect to time in Newton's Method of Fluxions.

Anagrams

• netful, unfelt

French

Adjective

fluent (feminine fluente, masculine plural fluents, feminine plural fluentes)

1. twitchy

Further reading

• “fluent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

fluent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of fluō

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fluens.

Adjective

fluent m (oblique and nominative feminine singular fluent or fluente)

1. (of a liquid) flowing; that flows

Related terms

• fluer

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French fluent.

Adjective

fluent m or n (feminine singular fluentă, masculine plural fluenți, feminine and neuter plural fluente)

1. fluent

Declension

Declension of fluent

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	fluent		fluentă	fluenți	fluente
	definite	fluentul		fluenta	fluenții	fluentele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	fluent		fluente	fluenți	fluente
	definite	fluentului		fluentei	fluenților	fluentelor