Esperanto
[es-puh-rahn-toh, -ran-]
- 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.
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Origin of Esperanto
1890–95; orig. pseudonym of inventor; literally, the hoping one. See esperance
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for esperanto
Contemporary Examples
And Mangum swears that his knowledge of Esperanto better prepared him to learn Spanish.
Esperanto fell well short of Zamenhof's goal of a universal second language, but it was not a complete failure.
Nowhere is this pipe dream more obvious than in the history of Esperanto, one of the world's most well-known invented languages.
To this day, many Esperanto enthusiasts, including Doug Mangum of Greensboro, N.C., share in this frustration.
Historical Examples
The universal language of humanity is neither Volapuk, nor Esperanto, nor Ido.
Second SightSepharial
The only Esperanto was the old diplomatic language of suspicion and greed.
Paris VistasHelen Davenport Gibbons
True, individuals have invented Esperanto and other artificial languages.
Elements of Folk PsychologyWilhelm Wundt
Esperanto has no indefinite article for either singular or plural.
A Complete Grammar of EsperantoIvy Kellerman Reed
He flung what few phrases of Latin and Esperanto he had at them.
Darkness and DawnGeorge Allan England
Esperanto
- an international artificial language based on words common to the chief European languages, invented in 1887
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Word Origin
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
n.
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.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper