Esperanto

[es-puh-rahn-toh, -ran-]

noun

an artificial language invented in 1887 by L. L. Zamenhof (1859–1917), a Polish physician and philologist, and intended for international use. It is based on word roots common to the major European languages.

RELATED WORDS

sign, Ameslan

Origin of Esperanto

1890–95; orig. pseudonym of inventor; literally, the hoping one. See esperance

Related formsEs·pe·ran·tism, nounEs·pe·ran·tist, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for esperanto

Contemporary Examples of esperanto

And Mangum swears that his knowledge of Esperanto better prepared him to learn Spanish.
Do You Speak Klingon?
Stephen Brown
June 14, 2009
Esperanto fell well short of Zamenhof's goal of a universal second language, but it was not a complete failure.
Do You Speak Klingon?
Stephen Brown
June 14, 2009
Nowhere is this pipe dream more obvious than in the history of Esperanto, one of the world's most well-known invented languages.
Do You Speak Klingon?
Stephen Brown
June 14, 2009
To this day, many Esperanto enthusiasts, including Doug Mangum of Greensboro, N.C., share in this frustration.
Do You Speak Klingon?
Stephen Brown
June 14, 2009

Historical Examples of esperanto

The universal language of humanity is neither Volapuk, nor Esperanto, nor Ido.
Second Sight
Sepharial
The only Esperanto was the old diplomatic language of suspicion and greed.
Paris Vistas
Helen Davenport Gibbons
True, individuals have invented Esperanto and other artificial languages.
Elements of Folk Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt
Esperanto has no indefinite article for either singular or plural.
A Complete Grammar of Esperanto
Ivy Kellerman Reed
He flung what few phrases of Latin and Esperanto he had at them.
Darkness and Dawn
George Allan England

British Dictionary definitions for esperanto

Esperanto

noun

an international artificial language based on words common to the chief European languages, invented in 1887

Derived FormsEsperantist, noun, adjective

Word Origin for Esperanto

C19: literally: the one who hopes, pseudonym of Dr. L. L. Zamenhof, who invented it

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for esperanto

Esperanto

1892, from Doktoro Esperanto, whose name means in Esperanto, "one who hopes," pen name used on the title page of a book about the artificial would-be universal language published 1887 by its inventor, Lazarus Ludwig Zamenhof (1859-1917). Cf. Spanish esperanza "hope," from esperar, from Latin sperare (see speed (n.)).