polyglot

American  

[pol-ee-glot] / ˈpɒl iˌglɒt /

adjective

1. able to speak or write several languages; multilingual.

2. containing, composed of, or written in several languages.

   a polyglot Bible.

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noun

• polyglots
  plural

1. a mixture or confusion of languages.

2. a person who speaks, writes, or reads a number of languages.

3. a book, especially a Bible, containing the same text in several languages.

polyglot British  

/ ˈpɒlɪˌɡlɒt /

adjective

1. having a command of many languages

2. written in, composed of, or containing many languages

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noun

1. a person with a command of many languages

2. a book, esp a Bible, containing several versions of the same text written in various languages

3. a mixture or confusion of languages

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• polyglotism
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• polyglots
  plural

Etymology

Origin of polyglot

First recorded in 1635–45; from Medieval Latin polyglōttus, from Greek polýglōttos “many-tongued”; see poly-, -glot

Explanation

Ni hao! Comment allez-vous? Estoy bien, gracias. Sayōnara! If you understood everything you just read, you’re probably a polyglot — a person who understands multiple languages. There are thousands of languages spoken in the world, but you don’t need to know them all to be a polyglot. The –glot comes from the Greek word for “tongue,” and the prefix poly- means “more than one,” so if you speak two or more languages, you’re technically a polyglot. Well done! Polyglot can also be used as an adjective, like describing "a polyglot neighborhood" full of people from many different cultures or the "polyglot crowd at the Olympic games."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

polyglot polyglots

But the U.K. branch of the polyglot style sometimes called post-rock included Bristol groups such as Movietone and Crescent, who mixed and matched dub rhythms, folk instrumentation, and electronics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026

Al-Hashimi became a polyglot — speaking English, Farsi and Armenian — in part to curb the effects of a seizure disorder on her temporal lobe, which is crucial for language comprehension.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026

In other words, a significant number of multiracial Americans will “airbrush” their polyglot lineage and instead focus on their European provenance.

From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2026

Having gained a reputation for punchy phrases, the polyglot politician appears unlikely to shy away from the fight.

From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025

It is a strange new kind of army, a polyglot mass of vastly dissimilar men, fighting for union.

From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara

In this study, most of the polyglots began studying their non-native languages as teenagers or adults, but in future work, the researchers hope to study people who learned multiple languages from a very young age.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 11, 2024

In a new brain imaging study, researchers peered inside the minds of polyglots like Smith to tease out how language-specific regions in their brains respond to hearing different languages.

From Science Magazine ● Feb. 3, 2023

Some polyglots have noted problems with the languages already available.

From BBC ● May 11, 2022

Understanding the importance of languages in a globalized world, many Kenyans speak English, Swahili and a tribal language, and polyglots are common throughout Africa.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 21, 2018

For who but a child dare act so freely among these polyglots of ceremony in this little world of frills and frocks and feathers?

From The Book of Khalid by Ameen Fares Rihani

Related Words

• linguist
• wordsmith