mutually intelligible

English

Adjective

mutually intelligible (not comparable)

1. (linguistics) Of two or more speech varieties, able to be understood by one another's speakers.
   • 1860, Alfred R. Wallace, Notes of a Voyage to New Guinea, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Vol. 30

     This language, or mutually intelligible forms of it, is spoken by the coast-dwellers over an extensive area

   • 1917, F. W. H. Migeod, The Racial Elements Concerned in the First Siege of Troy, in Man, Vol. 17

     Another important point is that Homer recognises that the speech of Trojans and Greeks was mutually intelligible.

Usage notes

Linguists use the criterion of mutual intelligibility to determine whether the speech of two different groups represents two distinct languages, or two dialects of a single language.

Synonyms

• interintelligible

Related terms

• mutual intelligibility

Translations

of a speech variety, able to be understood by speakers of another variety

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 互通 (zh) (hùtōng)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: keskinäisesti ymmärrettävä
• Russian: please add this translation if you can