Standard Lemma guide

monolingual

adj · noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪŋɡwəl
  • CMU ARPABET: M AA2 N AH0 L IH1 NG G W AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Knowing or using a single language; written or spoken in a single language.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: unilingual

Antonyms: multilingual, plurilingual

2

noun

Meaning 2

a person who knows or uses only a single language; a monoglot

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

using or knowing only one language

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • monolingual speakers
  • a monolingual dictionary

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: multilingual

4

noun

Meaning 4

a person who knows only one language

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *men-der. Proto-Hellenic *mónwos Ancient Greek μόνος (mónos) Ancient Greek μονο- (mono-)der. English mono- Latin linguālislbor. English lingual English monolingual From mono- + lingual.

Across languages

Translations

48 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: njëgjuhësh — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Arabic: أُحَادِي اَللُّغَة (ʔuḥādī l-luḡa) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܕܵܢܵܝ ܠܸܫܵܢܵܐ (ḥdānāy liššānā) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܕܵܢܵܝܲܬ ܠܸܫܵܢܵܐ (ḥdānāyat liššānā) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Azerbaijani: təkdilli — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Basque: elebakar — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Breton: unyezhek — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Catalan: monolingüe — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Catalan: unilingüe — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Chinese Mandarin: 單語 /单语 (dānyǔ) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Czech: jednojazyčný — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Danish: ensproget — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Dutch: eentalig — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Esperanto: unulingva — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Estonian: ühekeelne — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Finnish: yksikielinen — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • French: monolingue — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • French: unilingue — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Galician: monolingüe — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Galician: unilingüe — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Georgian: ერთენოვანი (ertenovani) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Georgian: მონოლინგვური (monolingvuri) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • German: einsprachig — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • German: monolingual — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Greek: μονόγλωσσος (monóglossos) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Hindi: एकभाषी (ekbhāṣī) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Icelandic: eintyngdur — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Icelandic: einmálga — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Interlingua: monolingue — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Irish: aonteangach — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Japanese: 単一言語 (tanitsugengo) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Macedonian: едноја́зичен (ednojázičen) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Malay: ekabahasa — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Manx: un-çhengagh — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Māori: reo tōtahi — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Norwegian: ettspråklig — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Persian: تکزبانه — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Persian: یکزبانه — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Polish: jednojęzyczny — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Portuguese: monolíngue — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Romanian: monolingv — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Romanian: unilingv — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Russian: одноязы́чный (odnojazýčnyj) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Russian: моноязычный (monojazyčnyj) — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Spanish: monolingüe — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Swedish: enspråkig — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Tagalog: sanwika — only knowing or spoken in one language
  • Ukrainian: одномо́вний (odnomóvnyj) — only knowing or spoken in one language