fluent

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfluːənt/
• IPA^(key): /ˈfluənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊənt

Adjective

fluent (comparative more fluent, superlative most fluent)

1. That flows; flowing, liquid.

   fluent handwriting

   • Template:RQ:Florio Montaigne Essayes
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.

Related terms

• fluency
• fluently

Translations

that flows; flowing, liquid

• Bulgarian: течен (bg) (tečen), подвижен (bg) (podvižen)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: fluens

able to speak a language accurately and confidently

• Arabic: طَلِق (ṭaliq), فَصِيح (faṣīḥ)

  Egyptian Arabic: لبلب (lebleb)

• Armenian: սահուն (hy) (sahun), վարժ (hy) (varž), արագախոս (hy) (aragaxos)
• 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), 畅达 (zh) (chàngdá)

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

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

  Ancient: εὔροος (eúroos)

• Hebrew: משוטף (mishutaf)
• Hungarian: folyékony (hu)
• Icelandic: reiprennandi, altalandi
• Ido: eloquenta (io)
• Indonesian: fasih (id), lancar (id)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: fluens
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: fasih
• Maori: matatau
• Norwegian: flytende
• Polish: płynny (pl), biegły (pl)
• Portuguese: fluente (pt) m or f
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: бе́глый (ru) (béglyj), свобо́дный (ru) (svobódnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: siùbhlach
• Serbo-Croatian: tečan (sh)
• Slovene: tekoče
• Spanish: fluido (es) m, fluida (es) f
• Swedish: flytande (sv)
• Tagalog: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: คล่อง (th) (klɔ̂ng)
• Turkish: akıcı (tr)
• Ukrainian: ві́льно (vílʹno)
• Vietnamese: lưu loát (vi), trôi chảy (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

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) fluent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of fluō

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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