bilingual

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

Also spelled bi-lingual

US /baɪˈlɪŋ.ɡwəl/ See IPA manual

Freq #39136

Meanings

1

adj
Able to speak two languages well.

Their children are bilingual in English and Spanish.
2

adj
Written or spoken in two languages.

They handed out a bilingual dictionary to each student.
3

noun
A person who can speak two languages.

As a bilingual, she often works as a translator.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · able to speak two languages... diglot

3 noun · a person who can speak two... bilingualist

More two-tongued

Word family

Forms bilinguals

Derived forms bilingualismbilingualitybilingualizebilinguallybilingualnessnonbilingual

Related forms biliteratebiscriptalsesquilingual

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

bilingual education
teaching in which students learn through two languages

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Latin bilinguis + -al; equivalent to bi- + lingual.

bilinguis Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Language & Linguistics

External links

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