bilingual

bilingual — adjective

IPA/baɪˈlɪŋ.ɡwəl/
KK[baɪlˈɪŋɡwəl]IPA/baɪˈlɪŋ.ɡwəl/
  • bilingualpositive
  • more bilingualcomparative
  • most bilingualsuperlative

1. able to speak, read, and write two languages with roughly the same skill, often

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

able to speak, read, and write two languages with roughly the same skill, often because you grew up hearing both at home or school.

Example

Greta is bilingual in Spanish and English because her mother spoke only Spanish at home.

bilingual in [language] and [language]

The hospital wants to hire bilingual nurses who can speak with Vietnamese patients in their own language.

bilingual + noun (job-applicant context)

Common collocations
  • fully bilingual
  • bilingual in [X] and [Y]
  • bilingual since childhood
Synonyms
Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

bilingual in [language] and [language]

Usage Note

Subject is normally a person (or a person-noun like 'staff', 'nurse', 'child'). For a place or product that uses two languages, use sense 2 or 3.

Common Mistakes

I am bilingual of English and French.
I am bilingual in English and French.
the preposition is 'in', not 'of'.
She is bilingual because she studied French for two years.
She speaks two languages because she studied French for two years.
'bilingual' implies near-equal fluency, not basic study.

2. describing a country, city, school, or community where two languages are regular

2.adjectiveC1
Definition

describing a country, city, school, or community where two languages are regularly spoken in daily life and official settings.

Example

Brussels is a bilingual city where street signs appear in both French and Dutch.

bilingual + place noun

The Watanabe twins attend a bilingual school that teaches half the lessons in Japanese.

Common collocations
  • bilingual school
  • bilingual city
  • officially bilingual
  • bilingual community
Synonyms
Antonyms

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: here the subject is a place, institution, or group, not an individual person. Often appears with 'officially', 'fully', or 'truly' before the adjective.

Common Mistakes

My cousin is a bilingual country.
My cousin lives in a bilingual country.
the adjective describes places or groups, not individual people in this sense.

3. describing a book, sign, app, or document whose content appears in two languages

3.adjectiveC1
Definition

describing a book, sign, app, or document whose content appears in two languages side by side, so readers can compare or choose between them.

Example

I bought a bilingual edition of the poems with French on the left page and English on the right.

bilingual edition (typical collocation)

The museum prints bilingual labels under each painting for tourists from Korea and the United States.

bilingual labels / signs (text artifact)

Common collocations
  • bilingual edition
  • bilingual menu
  • bilingual sign
  • bilingual website
Synonyms
Antonyms

Usage Note

Subject is an object or piece of content (book, sign, menu, website), not a person or place. Frequently attributive: 'bilingual menu', 'bilingual edition'.

Common Mistakes

The waiter handed us a bilingual.
The waiter handed us a bilingual menu.
in this sense the word is an adjective and needs a head noun.

bilingual — noun

IPA/ˌbaɪˈlɪŋɡwəl/
KK[baɪlˈɪŋɡwəl]IPA/ˌbaɪˈlɪŋɡwəl/

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe people who handle more than one language, but they differ in scope and tone. 'Bilingual' is precise: exactly two languages, used with roughly equal ease, often acquired in childhood. 'Multilingual' covers three or more languages and is the right choice when you cannot give an exact number, as in 'a multilingual conference'. 'Polyglot' is more informal and admiring; it suggests someone who has actively learned several languages out of interest, not someone raised with two. 'Fluent' is a neutral skill word and works for any number of languages, but you must say which language and how strong the speaker is, e.g. 'fluent in Korean'. So you would call Farouk, who grew up speaking French and English in Montreal, bilingual; a diplomat who handles five languages, multilingual; and a hobbyist who studies ten, a polyglot.

bilingual ↗multilingual ↗polyglotfluent ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • bilingual education
  • raise a child bilingual
  • grow up bilingual

Prepositions

  • in (English and French)

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Built from the Latin parts 'bi-' meaning 'two' and 'lingua' meaning 'tongue' or 'language'. English borrowed the combination from French in the mid-1800s, when scholars and travellers began describing people and regions that used two languages on equal terms. The same Latin root 'lingua' lies behind 'language', 'linguistic', and 'linguini' (the noodle, named for its tongue-like shape).