Word of the Day

Monday, August 30, 1999

polyglot

\POL-ee-glot\ , adjective;

Containing or made up of several languages.

Writing, speaking, or versed in many languages.

noun:

One who speaks several languages.

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Quotes:

Yes, Burgess loved to scatter polyglot obscurities like potholes throughout his more than 50 novels and dozens of nonfiction works. He could leap gaily from Welsh to French to Malay to Yiddish in one breath.

-- "Byrne", Chicago Sun-Times, August 24, 1997

There should be polyglot waiters who can tell us when the train starts in four or five languages.

-- Hamerton, Intelligent Life

My parents are both polyglots--they speak five Indian languages each, I speak seven--and they would encourage my reading.

-- Lawrence Weschler, A Wanderer in the Perfect City

Origin:

Polyglot derives from Greek polyglottos, from poly-, "many" + glotta, "tongue, language."