# polyglot

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpɒlɪɡlɒt/ · frequency rank #61,033

## Definitions
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. One who has mastered (especially when able to speak) several languages.
3. A mixture of languages or nomenclatures.
4. A file that can be interpreted validly as multiple formats.
5. A program written to be valid in multiple programming languages.
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.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/polyglot