Heteroglot

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An amalgam of multiple languages or dialects.

    "Although this question is never explicitly raised in the film, the postmodern, dystopian world within which the action takes place -- a world that is overcoded, that contains an unmanageable jumble of advertising appeals from disembodied voices along with a heteroglot of language and speech styles that threaten both self-understanding and mutual intelligibility — makes an implicit point."

  2. 2
    A mixture of multiple worldviews.

    "As a result of this conflicted consumption, her production is also a site of contestation, a heteroglot of Shona and Western signs, along with signs of anti-colonial and anti-patriarchal struggle."

  3. 3
    One of a multiplicity of languages; dialect.

    "For Bakhtin, language exists as a multi-voiced amalgam of social, political and professional dialects, or heteroglots."

  4. 4
    A person who speaks a different language.

    "... is by contrast mighty even among these who speak other languages (the heteroglots) ; the former proved easier to dismantle than a spider's web whereas the latter has become hard as diamond."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Having a vibrating reed that is made from a different material than the instrument itself and is often removable. not-comparable

    "The more specific definition will become useful when we discuss the earliest manifestations of the eighteenth- century clarinet and distinguish these from the closest relative of the clarinet — the chalumeau with a heteroglot reed."

  2. 2
    Involving or containing multiple languages, dialects, or idiolects. not-comparable

    "Any existent language system is first and foremost a heteroglot entity, stratified according to the actually existent social diversity of speech types (dialects, jargons, generic languages and so on)."

  3. 3
    Culturally diverse; Involving multiple points of view. broadly, not-comparable

    "This is essential in plural, heteroglot communities, if the school is to be inclusive, and is essential in those school subjects which are contentious and contended."

Example

More examples

"The more specific definition will become useful when we discuss the earliest manifestations of the eighteenth- century clarinet and distinguish these from the closest relative of the clarinet — the chalumeau with a heteroglot reed."

Etymology

From hetero- + -glot.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.