Etymology

unilingualism

U1N1I1L1I1N1G2U1A1L1I1S1M3

Today it means: The condition of being able to speak only a single language. Full definition →

English unilingual ← Latin linguāli ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ís?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
  3. Proto-Italic*oinos
  4. Old Latinoinos
  5. Latinūnus
  6. Latinūni-
  7. Englishuni-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s
  9. Proto-Italic*dn̥ɣwā
  10. Latindingua
  11. Latinlingua
  12. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  13. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  14. Latinlinguāli
  15. Englishlingual
  16. Englishunilingual
  17. English todayunilingualism

From unilingual + -ism.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.