Standard Lemma guide

multilingual

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.

  • /ˌmʌltiˈlɪŋɡwəl/
  • /ˌmʌltiˈlɪŋɡju.əl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪŋɡwəl
  • CMU ARPABET: M AH2 L T IY0 L IH1 NG W AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: M AH2 L T AY0 L IH1 NG W AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of, relating to, or involving multiple languages.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: many-tongued, multilanguage, multilinguistic, plurilingual

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Able to communicate in a number of languages.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: polyglot

Antonyms: monolingual, unilingual

3

noun

Meaning 3

A polyglot.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective

Meaning 4

using or knowing more than one language

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a multilingual translator
  • a multilingual nation

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: monolingual

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mel-der. Proto-Indo-European *ml̥tós? Proto-Italic *moltos Latin multus Latin multīder. Middle English multi- English multi- Latin linguālislbor. English lingual English multilingual From multi- + lingual.

Across languages

Translations

102 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مُتَعَدِّد اللُّغَات (mutaʕaddid al-luḡāt) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Arabic: أَلْسُنِيّ (ʔalsuniyy) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Arabic: لُغَاتِيّ (luḡātiyy) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Azerbaijani: çoxdilli — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Basque: eleanitz — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Belarusian: шматмо́ўны (šmatmówny) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Belarusian: мнагамо́ўны (mnahamówny) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Bulgarian: многоези́чен (mnogoezíčen) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Catalan: multilingüe — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Catalan: plurilingüe — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Chinese Mandarin: 多種語言 /多种语言 (duōzhǒngyǔyán) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Chinese Mandarin: 多語 /多语 (duōyǔ) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Czech: vícejazyčný — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Czech: mnohojazyčný — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Danish: flersproget — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Dutch: meertalig — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Esperanto: plurlingva — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Esperanto: multlingva — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Finnish: monikielinen — pertaining to multiple languages
  • French: plurilingue — pertaining to multiple languages
  • French: multilingue — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Galician: multilingüe — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Galician: plurilingüe — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Georgian: მრავალენობრივი (mravalenobrivi) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Georgian: მრავალენოვანი (mravalenovani) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • German: vielsprachig — pertaining to multiple languages
  • German: mehrsprachig — pertaining to multiple languages
  • German: multilingual — pertaining to multiple languages
  • German: polyglott — pertaining to multiple languages
  • German: polyglottisch — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Greek: πολύγλωσσος (polýglossos) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Hungarian: többnyelvű — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Hungarian: soknyelvű — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Icelandic: fjöltyngdur — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Indonesian: multibahasa — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Interlingua: multilingue — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Italian: plurilingue — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Italian: multilingue — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Japanese: 多言語 (tagengo) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Korean: 다중언어 (dajung'eoneo) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Korean: 다국어 (dagugeo) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Northern Kurdish: pirzimanî — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Latvian: daudzvalodīgs — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Macedonian: повеќеја́зичен (poveḱejázičen) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Māori: reomaha — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Navajo: díkwííshį́į́ saad yidiitsʼaʼ — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Norwegian Bokmål: flerspråklig — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fleirspråkleg — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Persian: چند زبانه (čand zabâne) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Polish: wielojęzyczny — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Portuguese: multilíngue — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Portuguese: multilingue — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Portuguese: plurilíngue — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Portuguese: plurilingue — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Russian: многоязы́чный (mnogojazýčnyj) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Scottish Gaelic: ioma-chànaineach — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Serbo-Croatian: вишејезичан — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Serbo-Croatian: višejezičan — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Slovak: mnohojazyčný — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Slovene: večjezičen — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Spanish: multilingüe — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Swedish: flerspråkig — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Swedish: mångspråkig — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Telugu: బహుభాషా (bahubhāṣā) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Turkish: çokdilli — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Ukrainian: багатомо́вний (bahatomóvnyj) — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Urdu: کثیر اللسان — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Vietnamese: đa ngôn ngữ — pertaining to multiple languages
  • Albanian: shumëgjuhësh — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Arabic: أَلْسُنِيّ (ʔalsuniyy) — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Arabic: لِسانجيّ — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Azerbaijani: çoxdilli — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Basque: eleanitz — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Catalan: multilingüe — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Catalan: plurilingüe — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Finnish: monikielinen — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • French: polyglotte — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Galician: multilingüe — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Galician: plurilingüe — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Galician: políglota — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Georgian: მრავალენოვანი (mravalenovani) — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • German: mehrsprachig — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • German: polyglott — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Greek: πολύγλωσσος (polýglossos) — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Greek: γλωσσομαθής (glossomathís) — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Ancient Greek: πολύγλωσσος (polúglōssos) — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Hungarian: poliglott — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Macedonian: повеќеја́зичен (poveḱejázičen) — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Norwegian Bokmål: flerspråklig — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fleirspråkleg — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Polish: wielojęzyczny — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Portuguese: poliglota — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Portuguese: multilíngue — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Portuguese: multilingue — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Portuguese: plurilíngue — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Portuguese: plurilingue — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Russian: многоязы́чный (mnogojazýčnyj) — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Scottish Gaelic: ioma-chànaineach — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Spanish: multilingüe — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Swedish: flerspråkig — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Turkish: çokdilli — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
  • Urdu: کثیر اللسان — able to communicate fluently in multiple languages
Real reading context

multilingual in complete knowledge articles