Word.ws English Dictionary

linguister

/ˈlɪŋɡwɪstə(ɹ)/

linguister noun: a native interpreter assisting Europeans in colonial contexts.

Noun

linguister (plural linguisters)

  1. (archaic, historical) A native interpreter assisting Europeans in colonial contexts.
    • […] the Portuguese very privatly gives information […] that it [the murder] was done by one of my people and by my order[;] this young man whom they accused was my linguister […]1666, letter from William Acworth, in Siam, to George Oxenden of the British East India Company, cited in John Anderson, English Intercourse with Siam in the Seventeenth Century, London: Kegan Paul...
    • Mr. Coniers: What did you take from this ship?
      [Robert] Brad[inham]: Capt. Kidd took out Parker, and a Portuguese for a Linguister.
      Mr. Coniers: A Linguister, What do you mean by that?
      Brad.: An interpreter;1701, trial of William Kidd, in Carrie J. Harris (ed.), State Trials of Mary, Queen of Scots, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Captain William Kidd, Chicago: Callaghan, 1899, p. 183
  2. (archaic, historical) A native agent facilitating European trade in East and Central Africa in colonial contexts.
    • One day a linguister, a native commission agent, arrived in a trading canoe, and stated that […] a prince some way up the river […] had [said] […] that if I sent him five longs and five gallons of rum he would […] let my trade pass.1887, Richard Edward Dennett, chapter 4, in Seven Years Among the Fjort: Being and English Trader’s Experiences in the Congo District, London: S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, pages 80–81
    • A “chief linguister” went along in order to act as a broker for the ship’s captain or supercargo.1991, Philip D. Curtin, chapter 3, in The Tropical Atlantic in the Age of the Slave Trade, Washington, DC: American Historical Association, page 34

Examples of linguister in a sentence

  • Though he [Geoffrey Chaucer] did not and could not create our language (for he who writes to be read does not write for linguisters), yet it is true that he first made it easy […]1871, James Russell Lowell, “Chaucer”, in My Study Windows, London: S. Low, Son, and Marston, page 196:
  • the linguister, whose work it is to make clear to his fellow Africans the wishes and commands of officers and crew2011, Barry Unsworth, chapter 8, in The Quality of Mercy, New York: Nan A. Talese, page 69:

Forms of linguister

plurallinguisters
alternative formlingster
alternative formlinkister
alternative formlinkster

Origin of linguister

Probably from Portuguese lingüista (“linguist”) reinterpreted as linguist + -er.

Questions about linguister

What does linguister mean?
Linguister means a native interpreter assisting Europeans in colonial contexts.
How do you use linguister in a sentence?
Though he [Geoffrey Chaucer] did not and could not create our language (for he who writes to be read does not write for linguisters), yet it is true that he first made it easy […]
What part of speech is linguister?
Linguister is a noun.
How do you pronounce linguister?
Linguister is pronounced /ˈlɪŋɡwɪstə(ɹ)/.
What is the plural of linguister?
The plural of linguister is linguisters.

Words near linguister in the dictionary

  1. linguinilike
  2. linguinis
  3. linguipotence
  4. linguism
  5. linguist
  6. linguister
  7. linguisters
  8. linguistic
  9. linguistic anthropology
  10. linguistic distance
  11. linguistic diversity index

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: linguister (page history and authors). 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.

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