-glot

American  

1. a combining form with the meanings “having a tongue,” “speaking, writing, or written in a language” of the kind or number specified by the initial element.

   polyglot.

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Usage

What does -glot mean? The combining form -glot is used like a suffix meaning “having a tongue.” The meaning of tongue here is often metaphorical, as in "language." This is how -glot comes to mean "speaking, writing, or written in a language." It is occasionally used in technical terms. The form -glot comes from Greek -glottos, meaning “tongued.” The Latin translation is lingua, “tongue,” which is the source of words such as linguistic and bilingual. Find out more at our entries for both words. What are variants of -glot?While not variants of -glot, the combining forms gloss-, glosso-, and glotto- are used as prefixes to mean "tongue, word, speech." Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for these forms.

Etymology

Origin of -glot

< Greek ( Attic ) -glottos -tongued, adj. derivative of glôtta tongue; glotto-