multilingual

adjective

mul·​ti·​lin·​gual ˌməl-tē-ˈliŋ-gwəl 

-ˈliŋ-gyə-wəl, 

-ˌtī-

1

: of, having, or expressed in several languages

a multilingual sign

multilingual dictionaries

2

: using or able to use several languages especially with equal fluency

multilingual translators

multilingualism

ˌməl-tē-ˈliŋ-gwə-ˌli-zəm 

-gyə-wə-, 

-ˌtī-

noun

multilingually

ˌməl-tē-ˈliŋ-gwə-lē 

-gyə-wə-lē, 

-ˌtī-

adverb

Did you know?

The roots of multilingual come from Latin. If you happen to prefer Greek, use the synonym polyglot, in which poly- has the same meaning as multi-, and -glot means the same thing as -lingual. The best way to become multilingual is probably to be born in a bilingual (two-language) household; learning those first two seems to give the mind the kind of exercise that makes later language-learning easy.

Examples of multilingual in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But in a multilingual society, these rights collide with how little most Americans, including law enforcement and court professionals, are taught about language itself. —Carol Rose Little, The Conversation, 12 June 2026

The arrests cast a shadow over a school community where more than 45% of students are Hispanic and more than one-third are multilingual learners, according to state education data. —Racquel Bazos, Baltimore Sun, 11 June 2026

The model processes speech continuously and handles all the multilingual inputs automatically, saving developers from manually configuring settings. —ArsTechnica, 9 June 2026

Santos’ proposal also calls for a more transparent and multilingual community-engagement process during the boundary adjustment timeline. —Miami Herald, 9 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined at sense 1