bilingual

bilingual

See also: bi-lingual

English

Alternative forms

• bi-lingual (rare)

Etymology

From Latin bilinguis +‎ -al; equivalent to bi- +‎ lingual.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baɪˈlɪŋ.ɡwəl/, /baɪˈlɪŋ.ɡju.əl/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋɡwəl, -ɪŋɡjuəl

Adjective

bilingual (not comparable)

1. Having the ability to speak two languages.
   • 1998, Fife, Bruce, The Birthday Party Business, →ISBN, page 176:

     Since she is bilingual she has them written in both English and Spanish.

   Synonyms: diglot, two-tongued

   Hypernym: multilingual

2. Spoken or written in two different languages.

   a bilingual dictionary

   • 2020 December 30, Paul Stephen, “Chirk station is truly blooming”, in Rail, page 48:

     All signage in and around the station is bilingual in Welsh and English, while station announcements and passenger information screens provide real-time information.

   Hypernym: multilingual

3. Characterized by the use or presence of two languages.

   bilingual education

   • 2018 December 12, Cleve R. Wootson Jr., “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s new favorite pastime appears to be trolling conservative critics”, in The Washington Post‎:

     Ocasio-Cortez’s trolling went bilingual in November when a Fox News show, “The Story,” had a prime-time discussion about Ocasio-Cortez’s shoes, including an acknowledgment that the network spent a lot of time talking about a woman who had not even been sworn into Congress yet.

   Hypernym: multilingual

Synonyms

• two-tongued

Derived terms

• bilingual dictionary
• bilingualism
• bilinguality

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: バイリンガル (bairingaru)
• → Polish: bilingwalny

Translations

speaking two languages

Afrikaans: tweetalig Albanian: dygjuhësh (sq) Arabic: ثُنَائِي اَللُّغَة‎ (ṯunāʾī l-luḡa) Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܬܪܲܝܵܢܵܝ ܠܸܫܵܢܹ̈ܐ‎ m (trayānāy lišānē), ܬܪܲܝܵܢܵܝܲܬ ܠܸܫܵܢܹ̈ܐ‎ f (trayānāyat lišānē) Asturian: billingüe Basque: elebidun (eu) Belarusian: двухмо́ўны (dvuxmóŭny), дзвюхмо́ўны (dzvjuxmóŭny) Bengali: দ্বিভাষিক (bn) (dẇibhaṣik) Breton: divyezhek (br) Bulgarian: двуезичен (dvuezičen) Catalan: bilingüe Chinese: Mandarin: 雙語／双语 (zh) (shuāngyǔ) Czech: dvojjazyčný Danish: tosproget, tvesproget Dutch: tweetalig (nl) Esperanto: dulingva Estonian: kakskeelne Finnish: kaksikielinen (fi) French: bilingue (fr) Galician: bilingüe Georgian: ორენოვანი (orenovani), ორენიანი (oreniani) German: zweisprachig (de), bilingual (de) Greek: δίγλωσσος (el) m (díglossos) Hebrew: דו-לשוני‎ Hungarian: bilingvis, kétnyelvű (hu) Icelandic: tvítyngdur Ido: bilingua (io) Interlingua: bilingue Irish: dátheangach Italian: bilingue (it) Japanese: (please verify) 二言語を自由に話せる (にげんごをじゆうにはなせる, ni gengo o jiyūni hanaseru), バイリンガルの (ja) (bairingaru no) Khmer: ឧភយពាក្យ (u’pʰea’yea’ piek), ពីរភាសា (pii pʰiesaa) Korean: (please verify) 두 개(個) 국어(國語)를 말하다 (du gae gugeo-reul malhada) Macedonian: двоја́зичен m (dvojázičen) Manx: daa-hengagh Navajo: saad naaki yidiitsʼaʼ Norwegian: Bokmål: bilingv, bilingval, tospråklig (no) Nynorsk: bilingv, bilingval, tospråkleg Pashto: دوه ژبی‎ (ps) (dwa žëbay) Persian: دوزبانه‎ (fa) Polish: dwujęzyczny (pl), bilingwalny (pl) Portuguese: bilíngue (pt), bilingue (pt) m or f Romanian: bilingv (ro) Russian: двуязы́чный (ru) (dvujazýčnyj) Scottish Gaelic: dà-chànanach, dà-theangach Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: двојѐзичан, би̏лингва̄лан Roman: dvojèzičan (sh), bȉlingvālan (sh) Slovak: dvojjazyčný Spanish: bilingüe (es) Swedish: tvåspråkig (sv) Tagalog: dalwika Thai: สองภาษา Ukrainian: двомо́вний (dvomóvnyj) Vietnamese: song ngữ Welsh: dwyieithog (cy)

written in two languages

Arabic: ثُنَائِي اَللُّغَة‎ (ṯunāʾī l-luḡa) Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܬܪܲܝܵܢܵܝ ܠܸܫܵܢܹ̈ܐ‎ m (trayānāy lišānē), ܬܪܲܝܵܢܲܬ ܠܸܫܵܢܹ̈ܐ‎ f (trayānat lišānē) Asturian: billingüe Basque: elebidun (eu) Bengali: দ্বিভাষিক (bn) (dẇibhaṣik) Breton: divyezhek (br) Bulgarian: двуезичен (dvuezičen) Catalan: bilingüe Chinese: Mandarin: 雙語／双语 (zh) (shuāngyǔ) Czech: dvojjazyčný Danish: tosproget, tvesproget Dutch: tweetalig (nl) Esperanto: dulingva Estonian: kakskeelne Finnish: kaksikielinen (fi) Galician: bilingüe Georgian: ორენოვანი (orenovani), ბილინგვური (bilingvuri) German: zweisprachig (de) Greek: δίγλωσσος (el) m (díglossos) Hungarian: kétnyelvű (hu) Icelandic: tveggja mála, tvímála Ido: bilingua (io) Interlingua: bilingue Irish: dátheangach Japanese: (please verify) 二言語で書かれた (にげんごでかかれた, ni gengo de kakareta) Korean: (please verify) 두 나라말로 쓰인 (du naramal-lo sseu'in) Macedonian: двоја́зичен m (dvojázičen) Malay: dwibahasa (ms) Manx: daa-hengagh Pashto: دوه ژبی‎ (ps) (dwa žëbay) Persian: دوزبانه‎ (fa) Polish: dwujęzyczny (pl) Portuguese: bilíngue (pt), bilingue (pt) m or f Romanian: bilingv (ro) Russian: двуязы́чный (ru) (dvujazýčnyj) Scottish Gaelic: dà-chànanach, dà-theangach Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: двојѐзичан Roman: dvojèzičan (sh) Spanish: bilingüe (es) Tagalog: dalwika Thai: สองภาษา Vietnamese: song ngữ Welsh: dwyieithog (cy)

See also

• biliterate
• biscriptal
• sesquilingual

Noun

bilingual (plural bilinguals)

1. A person who is able to use two languages.

Translations

a person who is bilingual

Basque: elebidun (eu) Catalan: bilingüe m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 會雙語的人／会双语的人 (huì shuāngyǔ de rén) Dutch: tweetalige (nl) Esperanto: dulingvano, dulingvulo Finnish: kaksikielinen (fi) Galician: bilingüe m Hungarian: kétnyelvű (hu) Japanese: 二言語に通じた人 (にげんごにつうじたひと (ni gengo ni tsūjita hito)) Korean: 두 개(個) 국어(國語)를 말하는 사람 (du gae gugeo-reul malhaneun saram) Manx: daa-hengagh m Polish: dwujęzykowiec m (rare), bilingwista m Portuguese: bilíngue (pt) m or f, diglota m or f Romanian: bilingv (ro) m, bilingvă f Russian: билингв (ru) m (bilingv) Spanish: bilingüe (es) m or f

Further reading

• bilingual on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

---

German

Etymology

bi- +‎ lingual

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

bilingual (strong nominative masculine singular bilingualer, not comparable)

1. bilingual

   Synonym: zweisprachig

Declension

Positive forms of bilingual (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist bilingual	sie ist bilingual	es ist bilingual	sie sind bilingual
strong declension (without article)	nominative	bilingualer	bilinguale	bilinguales	bilinguale
	genitive	bilingualen	bilingualer	bilingualen	bilingualer
	dative	bilingualem	bilingualer	bilingualem	bilingualen
	accusative	bilingualen	bilinguale	bilinguales	bilinguale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der bilinguale	die bilinguale	das bilinguale	die bilingualen
	genitive	des bilingualen	der bilingualen	des bilingualen	der bilingualen
	dative	dem bilingualen	der bilingualen	dem bilingualen	den bilingualen
	accusative	den bilingualen	die bilinguale	das bilinguale	die bilingualen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein bilingualer	eine bilinguale	ein bilinguales	(keine) bilingualen
	genitive	eines bilingualen	einer bilingualen	eines bilingualen	(keiner) bilingualen
	dative	einem bilingualen	einer bilingualen	einem bilingualen	(keinen) bilingualen
	accusative	einen bilingualen	eine bilinguale	ein bilinguales	(keine) bilingualen

Further reading

• “bilingual” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “bilingual” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon