multilingual

English

A multilingual direction sign at Hampton Court railway station.

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mel-der.

Proto-Indo-European *ml̥tós?

Proto-Italic *moltos

Latin multus

Latin multīder.

Middle English multi-

English multi-

Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s

Proto-Italic *dn̥ɣwā

Latin dingua

Latin lingua

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin linguālislbor.

English lingual

English multilingual

From multi- + lingual.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmʌltiˈlɪŋɡwəl/, /ˌmʌltiˈlɪŋɡju.əl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋɡwəl

Adjective

multilingual (comparative more multilingual, superlative most multilingual)

1. Of, relating to, or involving multiple languages.

   Synonyms: many-tongued, multilanguage, multilinguistic, plurilingual

   • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎^[1], page 9:

     In reality, the multidimensionality of language contact in multilingual environments ensures no such neat compartmentalisation.

   • 2025 September 25, Jacob Judah, “How AI and Wikipedia have sent vulnerable languages into a doom spiral”, in MIT Technology Review‎^[2]:

     Wikipedia is the most ambitious multilingual project after the Bible: There are editions in over 340 languages, and a further 400 even more obscure ones are being developed and tested.

2. (of a person) Able to communicate in a number of languages.

   Synonym: polyglot

   Antonyms: monolingual, unilingual

   Hyponyms: bilingual, trilingual

   • 2017 April 2, Maureen O'Hare, “Does being bilingual make you sexy?”, in CNN‎^[3]:

     So being multilingual can make you more appealing, more successful and more compassionate. And it’s also good for your health.

   • 2021 December 18, Ching Ching Tan, “Spielberg’s West Side Story shows us the value of multilingualism”, in CNN‎^[4]:

     Describing us as multilingual emphasizes our achievements and that learning English adds to the richness of our identity.

Derived terms

• multilingualization
• multilingualize
• multilingually
• multilingualness
• multilingual notation

Related terms

• language
• multilingualism

Translations

pertaining to multiple languages — see also plurilingual

• Arabic: مُتَعَدِّد اللُّغَات (mutaʕaddid al-luḡāt), أَلْسُنِيّ (ʔalsuniyy), لُغَاتِيّ (luḡātiyy)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: çoxdilli
• Basque: eleanitz (eu)
• Belarusian: шматмо́ўны (šmatmówny), мнагамо́ўны (mnahamówny)
• Bulgarian: многоези́чен (mnogoezíčen)
• Catalan: multilingüe (ca), plurilingüe
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多種語言 / 多种语言 (zh) (duōzhǒngyǔyán), 多語 / 多语 (duōyǔ)

• Czech: vícejazyčný, mnohojazyčný (cs)
• Danish: flersproget
• Dutch: meertalig (nl)
• Esperanto: plurlingva, multlingva
• Finnish: monikielinen (fi)
• French: plurilingue (fr), multilingue (fr)
• Galician: multilingüe m or f, plurilingüe m or f
• Georgian: მრავალენობრივი (mravalenobrivi)

  Old Georgian: მრავალენოვანი (mravalenovani)

• German: vielsprachig (de), mehrsprachig (de); multilingual (de), polyglott (de), polyglottisch
• Greek: πολύγλωσσος (el) (polýglossos)
• Hungarian: többnyelvű (hu), soknyelvű (hu)
• Icelandic: fjöltyngdur (is)
• Indonesian: multibahasa (id)
• Interlingua: multilingue
• Italian: plurilingue, multilingue (it)
• Japanese: 多言語 (ja) (たげんご, tagengo)
• Korean: 다중언어(多重言語) (dajung'eoneo), 다국어(多國語) (ko) (dagugeo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: pirzimanî (ku)

• Latvian: daudzvalodīgs (lv)
• Macedonian: повеќеја́зичен (poveḱejázičen)
• Māori: reomaha (mi)
• Navajo: díkwííshį́į́ saad yidiitsʼaʼ
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flerspråklig (no)

  Nynorsk: fleirspråkleg

• Persian: چند زبانه (čand zabâne)
• Polish: wielojęzyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: multilíngue (pt) (chiefly, Brazil), multilingue (chiefly, Portugal), plurilíngue (pt) (chiefly, Brazil), plurilingue (chiefly, Portugal)
• Russian: многоязы́чный (ru) (mnogojazýčnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: ioma-chànaineach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вишејезичан

  Latin: višejezičan (sh)

• Slovak: mnohojazyčný
• Slovene: večjezičen (sl)
• Spanish: multilingüe (es)
• Swedish: flerspråkig (sv), mångspråkig (sv)
• Telugu: బహుభాషా (bahubhāṣā)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: çokdilli (tr)
• Ukrainian: багатомо́вний (uk) (bahatomóvnyj)
• Urdu: کثیر اللسان (ur)
• Vietnamese: đa ngôn ngữ

able to communicate fluently in multiple languages

• Albanian: shumëgjuhësh
• Arabic: أَلْسُنِيّ (ʔalsuniyy), لِسانجيّ
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: çoxdilli
• Basque: eleanitz (eu)
• Catalan: multilingüe (ca), plurilingüe
• Finnish: monikielinen (fi)
• French: polyglotte (fr)
• Galician: multilingüe m or f, plurilingüe m or f, políglota m or f
• Georgian: მრავალენოვანი (mravalenovani)
• German: mehrsprachig (de), polyglott (de)
• Greek: πολύγλωσσος (el) (polýglossos), γλωσσομαθής (el) (glossomathís)

  Ancient Greek: πολύγλωσσος (polúglōssos)

• Hungarian: poliglott (hu)
• Macedonian: повеќеја́зичен m (poveḱejázičen)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flerspråklig (no)

  Nynorsk: fleirspråkleg

• Polish: wielojęzyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: poliglota (pt), multilíngue (pt) m or f, multilingue m or f, plurilíngue (pt) m or f, plurilingue m or f
• Russian: многоязы́чный (ru) (mnogojazýčnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: ioma-chànaineach
• Spanish: multilingüe (es)
• Swedish: flerspråkig (sv)
• Turkish: çokdilli (tr)
• Urdu: کثیر اللسان (ur) m

Noun

multilingual (plural multilinguals)

1. A polyglot.