monolingual

[ mon-uh-ling-gwuhlor, Canadian, -ling-gyoo-uhl ]

adjective

1. knowing or able to use only one language; monoglot.
2. spoken or written in only one language.

noun

1. a monolingual person.

monolingual

/ ˌmɒnəʊˈlɪŋɡwəl /

adjective

1. knowing or expressed in only one language

noun

1. a monolingual person

Other Words From

• mono·lingual·ism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of monolingual¹

First recorded in 1950–55; mono- + lingual

Example Sentences

An Irish language group, An Dream Dearg, has criticised the move saying English and Irish dual-language signage has been excluded in what they called a "new multi-million monolingual monolith".

From BBC

“In the United States, we’ve been so monolingual, and we’re missing that brain development piece that is so enhancing for our students,” Ortiz-Self said.

From Seattle Times

But while my travels over the last few years have made me as grateful for Google Translate as I am to be a native English speaker — they've also made me painfully, embarrassedly aware of how uniquely monolingual so many Americans are.

From Salon

"There absolutely are neurological and social benefits to language learning, but the whole experience is often romanticized and looked at from the view of a monolingual English speaker learning a second language for fun," he says.

From Salon

"Switzerland attributes about 11% of its GDP to multilingual policies that support French, Italian, German and of course, Romansh," he says, "whereas Great Britain has been recorded to lose out on an additional 3% of its GDP every year because of its relatively monolingual workforce."

From Salon