Esperanto Definition
ĕspə-răntō, -rän-
noun
An invented language, devised (1887) by Pol. physician L. L. Zamenhof (1859-1917), and proposed for use as an international (chiefly European) auxiliary language: it uses word bases common to the main European languages, and it has self-evident parts of speech (all nouns end in -o, all adjectives in -a, etc.), a single and regular conjugation of verbs, a few simplified inflections, etc.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
- romanal
- ro
- novial
- nov-esperanto
- interlingua
- europan
pronoun
An international auxiliary language designed by L. L. Zamenhof with a base vocabulary inspired by Indo-European languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian, and having a streamlined grammar with completely regular conjugations, declensions, and inflections.
Wiktionary
(figuratively) Anything that is used as a single international medium in place of plural distinct national media.
The U.S. dollar is the Esperanto of currency.
Wiktionary
Origin of Esperanto
-
From Esperanto esperanto (“one who hopes”), from French espérer, from Latin sperare (“to hope”). Originally, this was the pseudonym assumed by the language's creator, L. L. Zamenhof, and the language was called Lingvo Internacia (“international language”).
From Wiktionary
After Dr. Esperanto , “one who hopes,” pseudonym of Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof (1859–1917), Polish philologist
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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