linguist
n.n. a person who studies how languages work, including how people speak, write, and understand them.
n. a person who studies the structure, development, and use of human languages. Often focuses on the scientific analysis of grammar, phonetics, and semantics.
The linguist studies how children learn to speak.
A professional linguist was hired to help the company design a more effective translation software.
By examining the subtle shifts in regional dialects, the linguist reconstructed the historical migration patterns of the population over several centuries.
Etymology tree Latin lingua English -ist English linguist Borrowed from Latin lingua (“language”) + -ist.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Nounlinguist
- Nounlinguistics
- Adjectivelinguistic
Last updated May 19, 2026