bilingual

/baɪˈlɪŋ.ɡwəl/

bilingual adjective: having the ability to speak two languages fluently.

Adjective

bilingual (not comparable)

Having the ability to speak two languages fluently.
- He thinks it's chic to have a bilingual wife.1980, Paul Schrader, American Gigolo, spoken by Michelle (Lauren Hutton)
- Since she is bilingual she has them written in both English and Spanish.1998, Bruce Fife, The Birthday Party Business, →ISBN, page 176
Synonyms:

diglot, two-tongued
Spoken or written in two different languages.
- a bilingual dictionary
- All signage in and around the station is bilingual in Welsh and English, while station announcements and passenger information screens provide real-time information.2020 December 30, Paul Stephen, “Chirk station is truly blooming”, in Rail, page 48
Characterized by the use or presence of two languages.
- bilingual education
- 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.2018 December 12, Cleve R. Wootson Jr., “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s new favorite pastime appears to be trolling conservative critics”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 13 Dec 2018

Noun

bilingual (plural bilinguals)

A person who is able to use two languages.
- Imagine that you had to figure out the lexicon and grammar of a language that you did not know. How would you go about trying to figure out the structure of that language? It would be enormously helpful to have a bilingual speaker of your language and the new language: With a bilingual, you can...2025, Edward A. F. Gibson, “Introduction” (chapter 1), in Syntax: A Cognitive Approach, MIT Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 13
- Most striking, numerous studies have even shown that bilinguals undergo a later onset of dementia, perhaps of around four years, on average. But some of these studies have failed to replicate, leaving experts wondering whether the effect is real, and if so, what exactly it consists of.2025 June 27, “Is being bilingual good for your brain?”, in The Economist, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Jun 2025
An inscription that includes the same text in two languages.

bilingual meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

bilingual in Hindi

speaking two languages: द्विभाषी dvibhāṣī
written in two languages: द्विभाषी dvibhāṣī

bilingual in Tamil

இருமொழி, இரு மொழி, இருமொழி பேசும்நிலை, இருமொழிகளில் எழுதப்பட்ட

bilingual in Marathi

द्विभाषिक, द्विभाषी, द्वैभाषिक

bilingual in Urdu

دو زبان والا

More languagesFewer languages

bilingual in Bengali: দ্বিভাষিক dibhaśik
bilingual in Telugu: ద్విభాషా
bilingual in Malayalam: ദ്വിഭാഷാ
bilingual in Kannada: ಇನ್ನುಡಿಗ, ಎರಡು ನುಡಿಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾತನಾಡಬಲ್ಲವ
bilingual in Punjabi: ਦੋਭਾਸ਼ਾਈ, ਦੋ-ਭਾਸ਼ਾਈ, ਦੋਭਾਸ਼ੀ
bilingual in Gujarati: બેભાષી bebhāṣī
bilingual in Odia: ଦ୍ୱିଭାଷୀ, ଦ୍ବିଭାଷୀ, ଦ୍ୱିଭାଷିକ
bilingual in Nepali: द्विभाषी, द्विभाषिक, द्विभाषीय
bilingual in Pashto: دوه ژبی dwa žëbay
bilingual in Tagalog: dalwika
bilingual in Arabic: ثُنَائِي اَللُّغَة ṯunāʔī l-luḡa
bilingual in Malay: dwibahasa
bilingual in Persian: دوزبانه
bilingual in Thai: สองภาษา
bilingual in Vietnamese: song ngữ

Examples of bilingual in a sentence

It is becoming more usual these days to rear children as bilingual.
As with many bilingual families, it was normal to observe frequent code-switching at our dinner table.
At the frontiers where Yamnaya pastoralists interacted with settled agriculturalists, local variants developed among bilingual populations.

All 39 example sentences with bilingual

Synonyms of bilingual

Forms of bilingual

Adjective
alternative form (rare)	bi-lingual
Noun
plural	bilinguals

Origin of bilingual

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

Words formed from bilingual

Phrases with bilingual

bilingual dictionaries

Words that rhyme with bilingual

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about bilingual

What does bilingual mean?: Bilingual means having the ability to speak two languages fluently.
What is bilingual in Hindi?: Bilingual in Hindi is द्विभाषी (dvibhāṣī). See Bilingual meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is bilingual?: Bilingual can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce bilingual?: Bilingual is pronounced /baɪˈlɪŋ.ɡwəl/.

Words near bilingual in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: bilingual (page history and authors); bilingual (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bilingual (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bilingual (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bilingual (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bilingual (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bilingual (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bilingual (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); બેભાષી (Gujarati) (page history and authors); bilingual (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bilingual (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bilingual.wav.

Cite this entry: “bilingual.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bilingual. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.