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Polyglottal

[PAH-lee-glaht-əl]

Part of speech: adjective

Origin: French, 17th century

1.

Knowing or using several languages.

2.

(Of a book) Having the text translated into several languages.

Examples of Polyglottal in a sentence

"We were grateful to our polyglottal guide, who could translate each of the different local languages into English for us."

"Many readers of T.S. Eliot’s polyglottal poem “The Waste Land” find its array of languages overwhelming."

About Polyglottal

“Polyglottal” is based on the French “polyglotte.” This is derived from the Greek “poluglōttos,” from “polu-“ (meaning “many”) and “glōtta” (meaning “tongue”).

Did you Know?

Many Deaf people who use sign language will also learn to read and write in their local spoken language. Deaf people in the United States will usually learn to read and write in English, but they’ll likely also learn American Sign Language (ASL). This makes most Deaf people bilingual. However, many Deaf people learn to read and write in more than one language, and they may learn different sign languages, becoming polyglottal.

illustration Polyglottal

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