Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In or using four languages: as, a quadrilingual inscription; a quadrilingual interpreter.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Written in four languages.
  • adjective Able to speak four languages.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

quadri- + -lingual

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word quadrilingual.

Examples

  • Some examples follow below, from the quadrilingual Dutch work of the period, Moderne Kerken in Europe en America, which also includes some strange Central European and French monstrosities, not shown here -- though I admit a secret fondness for the etherial openness of Perret's Notre Dame du Raincy, just not all that exposed concrete.

    Some Examples of Early Twentieth-Century Scandinavian Church Architecture 2009

  • I also know a yound Nepali boy who was trilingual in Nepali, Hindi and English before he went to school, and became effectively quadrilingual when he started attending a school with a large Punjabi roll.

    On being linguistically defeated DC 2008

  • Here in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission, established by the Dayton peace accords, is leading the way in providing electronic information to Bosnia diaspora, young people, nongovernmental organizations, journalists, academics and researchers around the world through its quadrilingual Web site.

    Atomic Energy: Yeas And Nays 2008

  • Looking back on a career spanning half a century, the “Kaiser” indulges Proust, and us, with his thoughts on indifference, Monday mornings, and being quadrilingual. photograph by

    Proust Questionnaire: Karl Lagerfeld 2005

  • Looking back on a career spanning half a century, the “Kaiser” indulges Proust, and us, with his thoughts on indifference, Monday mornings, and being quadrilingual. photograph by

    Proust Questionnaire: Karl Lagerfeld 2005

  • Three of the four daughters of the Vasquez family who owns it are fluently bilingual, one is quadrilingual; one studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris and runs the kitchen, and another, when she learned a group of German scientists was booked for the 1991 eclipse, added German to her language repertoire of Spanish, English and French.

    Nayarit: San Blas, Tepic and in between 1997

  • Three of the four daughters of the Vasquez family who owns it are fluently bilingual, one is quadrilingual; one studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris and runs the kitchen, and another, when she learned a group of German scientists was booked for the 1991 eclipse, added German to her language repertoire of Spanish, English and French.

    Nayarit: San Blas, Tepic and in between 1997

  • Three of the four daughters of the Vasquez family who owns it are fluently bilingual, one is quadrilingual; one studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris and runs the kitchen, and another, when she learned a group of German scientists was booked for the 1991 eclipse, added German to her language repertoire of Spanish, English and French.

    Nayarit: San Blas, Tepic and in between 1997

  • Three of the four daughters of the Vasquez family who owns it are fluently bilingual, one is quadrilingual; one studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris and runs the kitchen, and another, when she learned a group of German scientists was booked for the 1991 eclipse, added German to her language repertoire of Spanish, English and French.

    Nayarit: San Blas, Tepic and in between 1997

  • At least this one looked short; usually he went on for several pages, unburdening his soul to "cher James," in a misspelled quadrilingual patois that at least made it clear he sought no secretarial help for his personal letters.

    Dragonfly in Amber Gabaldon, Diana 1992

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.