Meanings
nounfluency (countable and uncountable, plural fluencies)
plural fluencies
- countableuncountableThe quality of smoothness of flow.
She has fluency, nobility, / Elegance and symmetry, / Stability, fluidity, / Like poetry in motion.
1996, Vera Morris, Bill Francoeur, A Little Princess: The Musical: Adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “Sara Crewe”, Denver, Colo.: Pioneer Drama Service, →OCLC, act I, scene i, page 4 - countableuncountableThe quality of consistently applying skill correctly in the manner of one well-practiced at it, requiring little deliberate thought to perform without mistakes
While Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had warned his players against letting the pre-match festivities distract them from the task at hand, they clearly struggled for fluency early on.
2011 December 10, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 1 – 0 Everton”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2023 - countableuncountableThe inherent ability to use a language easily and accurately.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe quality of being facile in speech and writing
Similar
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinfluentia
- Englishfluency
From Late Latin fluentia, equivalent to fluent + -cy. Cognate with French fluence.
More words from Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek εὐρημοσύνη
- εὐρημοσύνη (eurēmosúnē)linguistics: being fluent in a language
Bulgarian течливост
- течливост (tečlivost)quality of smoothness of flow
Catalan fluïdesa
- fluïdesalinguistics: being fluent in a language
Chinese Mandarin 流暢 /流畅, 流利
- 流暢 /流畅 (liúchàng)quality of smoothness of flow
- 流利 (liúlì)linguistics: being fluent in a language
Dutch vlotheid
- vlotheidlinguistics: being fluent in a language
Esperanto flueco
- fluecolinguistics: being fluent in a language
Finnish virtaavuus, nestemäisyys
- virtaavuusquality of smoothness of flow
- nestemäisyysquality of smoothness of flow
- sujuvuuslinguistics: being fluent in a language
German Flüssigkeit, Fluss
- Flüssigkeitquality of smoothness of flow
- Flussquality of smoothness of flow
- Sprechflüssigkeitlinguistics: being fluent in a language
- Geläufigkeitlinguistics: being fluent in a language
- Flüssigkeitlinguistics: being fluent in a language
Greek ευφράδεια, ευχέρεια
- ευφράδεια (effrádeia)linguistics: being fluent in a language
- ευχέρεια (efchéreia)linguistics: being fluent in a language
Hebrew רהיטות
- רהיטות (r'hitut)linguistics: being fluent in a language
Hindi रवानी
- रवानी (ravānī)linguistics: being fluent in a language
Hungarian könnyedség, gördülékenység
- könnyedségquality of smoothness of flow
- gördülékenységquality of smoothness of flow
- folyékonyságquality of smoothness of flow
- folyékony nyelvtudáslinguistics: being fluent in a language
- jártasságquality of consistently applying skill correctly
Icelandic flæði
- flæðilinguistics: being fluent in a language
Irish éascaíocht, líofacht
- éascaíochtquality of smoothness of flow
- líofachtquality of smoothness of flow
- líofachtlinguistics: being fluent in a language
Italian scioltezza
- scioltezzalinguistics: being fluent in a language
Japanese 流暢, ぺらぺら
- 流暢 (ryūchō)quality of smoothness of flow
- ぺらぺら (perapera)linguistics: being fluent in a language
- 流暢 (ryūchō)linguistics: being fluent in a language
Korean 유창, 유창
- 유창 (yuchang)quality of smoothness of flow
- 유창 (yuchang)linguistics: being fluent in a language
- 유려 (yuryeo)linguistics: being fluent in a language
- 능숙도 (neungsukdo)quality of consistently applying skill correctly
Latin lēvitās
- lēvitāslinguistics: being fluent in a language
Malay kefasihan
- kefasihanlinguistics: being fluent in a language
Polish biegłość, płynność
- biegłośćquality of smoothness of flow
- płynnośćlinguistics: being fluent in a language
- biegłośćlinguistics: being fluent in a language
- biegłośćquality of consistently applying skill correctly
Portuguese fluidez, fluência
- fluidezquality of smoothness of flow
- fluêncialinguistics: being fluent in a language
Romanian fluiditate, fluență
- fluiditatequality of smoothness of flow
- fluențăquality of smoothness of flow
- fluențălinguistics: being fluent in a language
Russian бе́глость, свобо́дное владе́ние
- бе́глость (béglostʹ)quality of smoothness of flow
- свобо́дное владе́ние (svobódnoje vladénije)linguistics: being fluent in a language
Spanish fluidez, fluencia
- fluidezquality of smoothness of flow
- fluenciaquality of smoothness of flow
- fluidezlinguistics: being fluent in a language
- solturalinguistics: being fluent in a language
- facundialinguistics: being fluent in a language
- desenvolturaquality of consistently applying skill correctly
- desparpajoquality of consistently applying skill correctly
Thai ความคล่องแคล่ว
- ความคล่องแคล่วlinguistics: being fluent in a language
Turkish akıcılık, akıcılık
- akıcılıkquality of smoothness of flow
- akıcılıklinguistics: being fluent in a language
Vietnamese sự thành thạo
- sự thành thạolinguistics: being fluent in a language
Welsh rhuglder
- rhuglderlinguistics: being fluent in a language
Cite this entry
APA
fluency. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fluency
MLA
“fluency.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fluency. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fluency,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fluency.
Source: fluency on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.