Meanings
adjectivesemilingual (not comparable)
- not comparableHaving a low profile in all of several languages that one can speak.
The harmful effects of semilingualism on the identity and psyche, together with an incomplete mastery of Swedish, made the semilingual person socially handicapped in comparison with the monolingual Swede.
2014, Mia Halonen, Pasi Ihalainen, Language Policies in Finland and Sweden: Interdisciplinary and Multi-sited Comparisons
nounsemilingual (plural semilinguals)
plural semilinguals
- A person who knows two or more languages but exhibits low profile in all of them, that involves having poor vocabulary and wrong grammar.
Origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with semilingual
bilingualmultilinguallingualsublingualmonolingualtrilingualunilingualalveololingualambilingualanterolingualapicolingualaudiolingualaxiolingualbrevilingualbuccolingualcervicolingualcolingualcrosslingualdecalingualdentilingualdistolingualdorsolingualequilingualexolingual
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
semilingual. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/semilingual
MLA
“semilingual.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/semilingual. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “semilingual,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/semilingual.
Source: semilingual on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.