noun · 2 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
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˈspɹɑːkbʊnd/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈspɹɑːx-/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/ˈspɹɑkbʊnd/
General-American:/ˈspɹɑx-/
1
noun
Meaning 1
A group of languages sharing a number of areal features (similar grammar, vocabulary, etc.) which are primarily due to language contact rather than cognation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: area of linguistic convergence, diffusion area, language crossroads, linguistic area
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Alternative letter-case form of sprachbund.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Borrowed from German Sprachbund (literally “language alliance, language association”), from Sprache (“language; way of speaking, speech”) (ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *sprāku (“language; speech”)) + Bund (“alliance”) (from binden (“to bind, to tie up”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bhendh- (“to bind”)). The German word was coined by Russian linguist Nikolai Trubetzkoy (1890–1938) in a paper he presented to the inaugural International Congress of Linguists in 1928 as a calque of the Russian term языково́й сою́з (jazykovój sojúz, literally “language union”), which he had introduced in a 1923 article.
Across languages
Translations
32 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
spraakbond
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Arabic:
شبراخبوند
(šprāḵbund)
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Basque:
sprachbund
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Catalan:
àrea lingüística
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Chinese Mandarin:
語言聯盟 /语言联盟
(yǔyán liánméng)
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Czech:
jazykový svaz
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Dutch:
taalbond
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Dutch:
Sprachbund
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Estonian:
keeleliit
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Finnish:
kieliliitto
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Finnish:
kielisikermä
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
French:
aire linguistique
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Galician:
área lingüística
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
German:
Sprachbund
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Hebrew:
שפראכבונד
(shprakhbund)
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Italian:
lega linguistica
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Japanese:
言語連合
(gengo rengō)
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Kazakh:
тілдік одақ
(tıldık odaq)
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Norwegian Bokmål:
språkbunt
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Norwegian Bokmål:
språkknippe
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Norwegian Nynorsk:
sprachbund
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Polish:
liga językowa
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Portuguese:
área linguística
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Russian:
языково́й сою́з
(jazykovój sojúz)
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Russian:
шпрахбу́нд
(špraxbúnd)
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Serbo-Croatian:
јѐзичкӣ са́вез
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Serbo-Croatian:
jèzičkī sávez
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Spanish:
sprachbund
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Swedish:
språkförbund
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Turkish:
dil birliği
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Ukrainian:
мо́вний сою́з
(móvnyj sojúz)
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
Yiddish:
שפּראַכבונד
(shprakhbund)
— group of languages sharing areal features primarily due to language contact
