bilingual

American  

[bahy-ling-gwuhl, -ling-gyoo-uhl] / baɪˈlɪŋ gwəl, -ˈlɪŋ gju əl /

adjective

1. 

   able to speak two languages with the facility of a native speaker.

2. spoken, written, or containing similar information in two different languages.

   a bilingual dictionary; Public notices at the embassy are bilingual.

3. of, involving, or using two languages.

   a bilingual community; bilingual schools.

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noun

1. a bilingual person.

bilingual British  

/ baɪˈlɪŋɡwəl /

adjective

1. able to speak two languages, esp with fluency

2. written or expressed in two languages

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noun

1. a bilingual person

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

• bilingualism
  noun
• bilingually
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of bilingual

1835–45; < Latin bilingu ( is ) ( bi- bi- ¹ + lingu-, stem of lingua tongue + -is adj. suffix) + -al ¹

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bilingual

Hinojosa, who is bilingual, flexes her Spanglish easily on the stump, telling voters that the most important lesson she ever got came from her mother was the scolding, “No te dejes.”

From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026

Though he was early in his residency, Mundo, a doctor who is bilingual, was familiar with this “bounce back.”

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

I was born in the United States, but my parents are Soviet émigrés and I grew up bilingual.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

The voter backlash to bilingual education reflected the sentiment of the time, said Lisa Garcia Bedolla, a professor of education at UC Berkeley.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

I wasn’t sure the humor translated, because she kept organizing her stack of bilingual flashcards.

From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen

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