Meanings
- not comparablehuman sciencesAble to speak two or more languages at the same level of proficiency.
plural equilinguals
- human sciencesA person who is equilingual.
Unilinguals and bilinguals other than equilinguals mostly consume mass media products in the language they know best.
1979, Alain Desrochers, Richard Clément, The Social Psychology of Inter-ethnic Contact and Cross-cultural Communication, An Annotated Bibliography, page 592 more examples
If the equilingual speaks language A or B, the monolingual speakers of that language would recognize that the individual is a speaker of another language.
1998, Hortense García Ramirez Kayser, Assessment and Intervention Resource for Hispanic Children, page 33An equilingual (von Raffler-Engel, 1961), on the other hand, is either ambilingual if both languages are equally native-like or semilingual (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1980) if both are mastered equally poorly.
2004, Michel Paradis, A Neurolinguistic Theory of Bilingualism, page 3
Origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with equilingual
Cite this entry
equilingual. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/equilingual
“equilingual.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/equilingual. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “equilingual,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/equilingual.
Source: equilingual on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.