bilingual
Americanadjective
-
able to speak two languages with the facility of a native speaker.
-
spoken, written, or containing similar information in two different languages.
a bilingual dictionary; Public notices at the embassy are bilingual.
-
of, involving, or using two languages.
a bilingual community; bilingual schools.
noun
adjective
-
able to speak two languages, esp with fluency
-
written or expressed in two languages
noun
Usage
What does bilingual mean? Bilingual is most commonly used to describe someone who can speak or understand two languages, especially with some level of fluency. It can also be used to describe things that involve or that are written or spoken in two languages, as in These instructions are bilingual—they’re written in English and Spanish. The similar terms trilingual and multilingual are used in the same way, with trilingual indicating three languages and multilingual indicating more than two and especially several languages. The ability to speak two languages or the use of two languages is called bilingualism. Example: Being bilingual is a great advantage for many job seekers.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bilingual
1835–45; < Latin bilingu ( is ) ( bi- bi- 1 + lingu-, stem of lingua tongue + -is adj. suffix) + -al 1
Explanation
Bilingual is an adjective that describes a person or community that speaks two languages. A bilingual woman might speak Spanish and English, and a part of town where people speak Mandarin and Polish is a bilingual neighborhood. The prefix bi- means “having two,” and the Latin word lingua means “tongue, language,” so bilingual literally means “having two tongues.” It would be a mouthful to have two physical tongues, but luckily bilingual is for language tongues: the ability to speak two languages fluently. Bilingual is also a noun, and a person can be called a bilingual, like in the African country Chad, where the official languages are French and Arabic, and where many of the citizens are bilinguals.
Vocabulary lists containing bilingual
It Takes Two: Bi
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Tongues Untied: The Lingo of Linguistics
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Words to Describe Yourself on a Resume
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Their daughter is now 8 and attends a bilingual Spanish and English neighborhood elementary school.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Carney said Canadian subsidies for Francophone culture, the role of Francophone online media and bilingual labeling of products sold in Canada were among the issues at stake.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
It operates a series of bilingual digital platforms and TV channels and produces a Chinese American Film Festival.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
As opposed to about half of the people in the world, who are bilingual, most of us know only one language — and even then, only kinda-sorta.
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026
I was a bilingual child, a certain kind—socially disadvantaged—the son of working-class parents, both Mexican immigrants.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
