linguist
Americannoun
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linguists
plural
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a specialist in linguistics.
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a person who is skilled in several languages; polyglot.
noun
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a person who has the capacity to learn and speak foreign languages
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a person who studies linguistics
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the spokesman for a chief
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of linguist
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin lingu(a) “tongue, speech” + -ist
Explanation
A linguist is someone who studies language. Linguists study every aspect of language, including vocabulary, grammar, the sound of language, and how words evolve over time. The study of language is called linguistics, and people who study linguistics are linguists. Being a linguist isn't easy; you usually have to go to graduate school and conduct research about a specific aspect of language. There are computational linguists, forensic linguists, comparative linguists, and many other specialties. If you love language, you'd probably enjoy a career as a linguist.
Vocabulary lists containing linguist
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 22–February 28, 2026
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ist
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"Teen Slang" – "Is Money Affecting Your Social Status?”
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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.
See Examples For:
The foreign ministry said the family of linguist and researcher Dennis Coyle had written to the supreme leader of Afghanistan, asking that he be released and pardoned for Eid.
From Barron's ● Mar. 24, 2026
Michael Hahn, a linguist based in Saarbrücken, set out to answer that question with Richard Futrell from the University of California, Irvine.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2026
A gifted linguist, she soon mastered Mayan dialects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2026
In 2020, photographer Caitlin O’Hara snapped linguist Rachid Baligh of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Marrakesh, Morocco, with his family, his 2015 Ural cT motorcycle, and his miniature schnauzer, Lola, in the Arizona desert.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025
I see one man, a respected linguist, throw his mug in the lake from sheer frustration.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
For thousands of years, philosophers, linguists, and cognitive scientists have debated whether language is essential for thought.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
By examining bodies of written work, linguists can track the rise of such language quirks, says Kimberly Becker, a linguist and co-host of the “Women Talkin’ ‘Bout AI” podcast.
From Barron's ● Apr. 14, 2026
The Africa Next Voices project brought together linguists and computer scientists to create AI-ready datasets in 18 African languages.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2025
But it’s clear that the phenomenon is not just the tweedy concern of linguists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2025
Most linguists specializing in Native American languages do not discern large, clear-cut groupings other than Eskimo-Aleut and Na-Dene.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
