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

After a nearly two-year trial period, YouTube is finally rolling out multilingual dubbing for content creators. —Will McCurdy, PC Magazine, 13 Sep. 2025

Beyond scalability, gig workers often bring specialized skills to the job, like multilingual support, technical troubleshooting, or local cultural skills that strengthen customer-brand interactions. —Gary Drenik, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025

This dark, multilingual comedy is infused with an absurdist theatricality and features wickedly good performances. —Zac Ntim, Deadline, 4 Sep. 2025

Xiao He, an AI humanoid robot, was present at the two-day event to help journalists by offering multilingual support. —Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 1 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined at sense 1