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polyglot

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "polyglot", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "polyglot" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "polyglot" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

polyglot is aEnglishnoun. It means: A publication in several languages; specifically, a book (especially a bible) containing several versions of the same subject matter or text in several languages. Pronounced /ˈpɒlɪɡlɒt/.

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Key facts for polyglot
PropertyValue
Headwordpolyglot
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpɒlɪɡlɒt/
Letters8
Frequency rank#61,033
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of polyglot in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for polyglot is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɒlɪɡlɒt/. Corpus data places it at rank #61,033 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for polyglot in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *glōgʰs Borrowed from Attic Greek πολύγλωττος (polúglōttos, “speaking many languages, multilingual”), alternative form of Ancient Greek πολῠ́γλωσσος (polŭ́glōssos, “speaking many languages, multilingual”), from πολῠ́ς (polŭ́s, “a lot of, many”) (u… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is polyglot, spelled P-O-L-Y-G-L-O-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A publication in several languages; specifically, a book (especially a bible) containing several versions of the same subject matter or text in several languages.
  2. 2
    One who has mastered (especially when able to speak) several languages.
  3. 3
    A mixture of languages or nomenclatures.
  4. 4
    A file that can be interpreted validly as multiple formats.
  5. 5
    A program written to be valid in multiple programming languages.
  6. 6
    A bird able to imitate the sounds of other birds.

Etymology

PIE word *glōgʰs Borrowed from Attic Greek πολύγλωττος (polúglōttos, “speaking many languages, multilingual”), alternative form of Ancient Greek πολῠ́γλωσσος (polŭ́glōssos, “speaking many languages, multilingual”), from πολῠ́ς (polŭ́s, “a lot of, many”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)) + Attic Greek γλῶττα (glôtta), Ancient Greek γλῶσσᾰ (glôssă, “tongue; language”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *glōgʰs (“tip of corn”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming o-grade action nouns). The English word is analysable as poly- + -glot. Noun sense 1 (“publication in several languages”) is probably derived from Late Latin polyglottus, from Attic Greek πολύγλωττος (polúglōttos): see above.

This word in other languages

Frequency rank: #61,033 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "polyglot"?
"polyglot" is spelled P-O-L-Y-G-L-O-T. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɒlɪɡlɒt/.
What does "polyglot" mean?
As a noun, "polyglot" means: A publication in several languages; specifically, a book (especially a bible) containing several versions of the same subject matter or text in several languages.
How do you pronounce "polyglot"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "polyglot" is /ˈpɒlɪɡlɒt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "polyglot"?
PIE word *glōgʰs Borrowed from Attic Greek πολύγλωττος (polúglōttos, “speaking many languages, multilingual”), alternative form of Ancient Greek πολῠ́γλωσσος (polŭ́glōssos, “speaking many languages, multilingual”), from πολῠ́ς (polŭ́s, “a lot of,... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.