multilingual

English

A multilingual direction sign at Hampton Court railway station.

Etymology

From multi- +‎ lingual.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmʌltiˈlɪŋɡwəl/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋɡwəl

Adjective

multilingual (comparative more multilingual, superlative most multilingual)

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

   Synonyms: 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.

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

   Synonym: polyglot

   Antonyms: monolingual, unilingual

   Hyponyms: bilingual, trilingual

Related terms

• language
• multilingualism

 

Translations

pertaining to multiple languages

• Arabic: مُتَعَدِّد اَللُّغَات‎ (mutaʿaddid al-luḡāt)
• Basque: eleanitz (eu)
• Belarusian: мнагамо́ўны (mnahamóŭny), шматмо́ўны (šmatmóŭny)
• Bulgarian: многоези́чен (mnogoezíčen)
• Catalan: multilingüe (ca), plurilingüe
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: vícejazyčný m, mnohojazyčný (cs)
• Danish: flersproget
• Dutch: meertalig (nl)
• Esperanto: multlingva
• Finnish: monikielinen (fi)
• French: plurilingue (fr), multilingue (fr)
• Galician: multilingüe m or f, plurilingüe m or f
• Georgian: მრავალენობრივი (mravalenobrivi), მულტილინგვური (mulṭilingvuri)
• 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)
• Italian: multilingue (it)
• Japanese: 多言語 (ja) (たげんご, tagengo)
• Korean: 다중언어 (dajung-eoneo), 다국어 (ko) (dagugeo)
• Latvian: daudzvalodīgs

• Macedonian: повеќеја́зичен m (poveḱejázičen)
• Maori: reomaha (mi)
• Navajo: díkwííshį́į́ saad yidiitsʼaʼ
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flerspråklig

  Nynorsk: fleirspråkleg

• Persian: چند زبانه‎
• Polish: wielojęzyczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: 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
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вишејезичан

  Roman: višejezičan (sh)

• Slovak: mnohojazyčný
• Slovene: večjezičen (sl)
• Spanish: multilingüe (es) m or f, plurilingüe (es) m or f
• Swedish: flerspråkig (sv), mångspråkig (sv)
• Telugu: బహుభాషా (bahubhāṣā)
• Turkish: çokdilli (tr)
• Ukrainian: багатомо́вний (uk) (bahatomóvnyj)
• Urdu: کثیر اللسان‎ (ur)

able to communicate fluently in multiple languages

• Albanian: shumëgjuhësh
• Basque: eleanitz (eu)
• Catalan: multilingüe (ca), plurilingüe
• Finnish: monikielinen (fi)
• French: polyglotte (fr)
• Galician: multilingüe m or f, plurilingüe m or f
• Georgian: მრავალენოვანი (mravalenovani)
• German: mehrsprachig (de); polyglott (de)
• Greek: πολύγλωσσος (el) (polýglossos)
• Hungarian: poliglott
• Macedonian: повеќеја́зичен m (poveḱejázičen)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flerspråklig

  Nynorsk: fleirspråkleg

• Polish: wielojęzyczny (pl) m
• 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) m or f, plurilingüe (es) m or f
• Turkish: çokdilli (tr)
• Urdu: کثیر اللسان‎ (ur) m

Noun

multilingual (plural multilinguals)

1. a polyglot