bilateral

See also: bilatéral

English

Etymology

From bi- +‎ lateral.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /baɪˈlætəɹəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætəɹəl

Adjective

bilateral (comparative more bilateral, superlative most bilateral)

1. Having two sides.
   • 1989 June 21 [1989 June 20], “El Salvador's Vice President Visits Taiwan”, in Daily Report: China‎^[1], numbers 81-118, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 81, column 2:

     General Wego W.K. Chiang, secretary general of the National Security Council, said that the visit of El Salvador Vice President Merino to Taipei on behalf of President Alfredo Cristiani was in response to an invitation of the ROC [Republic of China] Government which hopes to further strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries.

2. Involving both sides equally.
3. (of an agreement) Binding on both of the two parties involved.
4. Having bilateral symmetry.
5. (anthropology) Involving descent or ascent regardless of sex and side of the family (bilateral linearity).

Derived terms

• bilateral descent
• bilateral gill trama
• bilateralism
• bilateralist
• bilaterality
• bilateralize
• bilaterally
• bilateralness
• bilateral pneumonia
• isobilateral
• nonbilateral

Translations

having two sides

• Arabic: ثُنَائِيّ (ar) (ṯunāʔiyy)
• Armenian: երկկողմ (hy) (erkkoġm)
• Bulgarian: двустранен (dvustranen)
• Catalan: bilateral (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雙邊 / 双边 (zh) (shuāngbiān), 雙方 / 双方 (zh) (shuāngfāng)

• Dutch: tweezijdig (nl)
• Finnish: kaksipuolinen
• French: bilatéral (fr)
• Galician: bilateral (gl)
• Georgian: ორმხრივი (ormxrivi)
• German: zweiseitig (de)
• Hungarian: kétoldalú (hu)
• Icelandic: tvíhliða
• Irish: déshleasach, déthaobhach
• Italian: bilaterale (it)
• Japanese: 双方 (ja) (そうほう, sōhō)
• Kazakh: екіжақты (ekijaqtı)
• Luxembourgish: bilateral
• Macedonian: двостран (dvostran)
• Polish: dwustronny (pl)
• Portuguese: bilateral (pt)
• Romanian: bilateral (ro)
• Russian: двусторо́нний (ru) (dvustorónnij)
• Scottish Gaelic: dà-thaobhach
• Spanish: bilateral (es)
• Ukrainian: двосторо́нній (dvostorónnij)

involving both sides equally

• Armenian: երկկողմ (hy) (erkkoġm)
• Bulgarian: двустранен (dvustranen)
• Dutch: bilateraal (nl)
• Finnish: bilateraalinen (fi)
• German: bilateral (de)
• Irish: déthaobhach
• Japanese: (of countries) 二国間 (nikokukan), 相互的な (そうごてきな, sōgoteki-na)
• Macedonian: двостран (dvostran)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bilateral

  Nynorsk: bilateral

• Polish: bilateralny (pl), dwustronny (pl)
• Portuguese: bilateral (pt)
• Romanian: bilateral (ro)
• Russian: двусторо́нний (ru) (dvustorónnij)
• Scottish Gaelic: dà-thaobhach
• Ukrainian: двосторо́нній (dvostorónnij)

binding on both parties to an agreement

• Catalan: bilateral (ca)
• Dutch: bilateraal (nl)
• Finnish: kahdenvälinen, bilateraalinen (fi)
• Georgian: ორმხრივი (ormxrivi)
• Icelandic: tvíhliða
• Welsh: dwyochrog

having bilateral symmetry

• Catalan: bilateral (ca)
• Finnish: bilateraalinen (fi)
• Macedonian: двостран (dvostran)

involving descent or ascent regardless of sex and side of the family

• Catalan: bilateral (ca)

Noun

bilateral (plural bilaterals)

1. A meeting between two people or groups.

Anagrams

• bare it all, trailable, trialable

Catalan

Etymology

From bi- +‎ lateral.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [bi.lə.təˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [bi.la.teˈɾal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

bilateral m or f (masculine and feminine plural bilaterals)

1. bilateral

Derived terms

• bilateralitat

Further reading

• “bilateral”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “bilateral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “bilateral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “bilateral”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Galician

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

▲

Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu.

Proto-Indo-European *dwís

Proto-Italic *dwis

Old Latin duis

Latin bisder.

Galician bi-

Galician lateral

Galician bilateral

From bi- + lateral.

Adjective

bilateral m or f (plural bilaterais)

1. bilateral

Further reading

• “bilateral”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

German

Etymology

bi- +‎ lateral

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbiːlatəˌʁaːl]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

bilateral (strong nominative masculine singular bilateraler, not comparable)

1. bilateral

Declension

Positive forms of bilateral (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist bilateral	sie ist bilateral	es ist bilateral	sie sind bilateral
strong declension (without article)	nominative	bilateraler	bilaterale	bilaterales	bilaterale
	genitive	bilateralen	bilateraler	bilateralen	bilateraler
	dative	bilateralem	bilateraler	bilateralem	bilateralen
	accusative	bilateralen	bilaterale	bilaterales	bilaterale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der bilaterale	die bilaterale	das bilaterale	die bilateralen
	genitive	des bilateralen	der bilateralen	des bilateralen	der bilateralen
	dative	dem bilateralen	der bilateralen	dem bilateralen	den bilateralen
	accusative	den bilateralen	die bilaterale	das bilaterale	die bilateralen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein bilateraler	eine bilaterale	ein bilaterales	(keine) bilateralen
	genitive	eines bilateralen	einer bilateralen	eines bilateralen	(keiner) bilateralen
	dative	einem bilateralen	einer bilateralen	einem bilateralen	(keinen) bilateralen
	accusative	einen bilateralen	eine bilaterale	ein bilaterales	(keine) bilateralen

Further reading

• “bilateral” in Duden online
• “bilateral”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)

Indonesian

Etymology

Internationalism, affixed lateral +‎ bi-, borrowed from Dutch bilateraal.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /bilatəˈral/ [bi.la.t̪əˈral]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: bi‧la‧te‧ral

Adjective

bilatêral (comparative lebih bilateral, superlative paling bilateral)

1. bilateral

   Synonym: dua hala (Malay)

Further reading

• “bilateral”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Interlingua

Adjective

bilateral (not comparable)

1. bilateral

Luxembourgish

Adjective

bilateral (masculine bilateralen, neuter bilateraalt, not comparable)

1. bilateral

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From bi- +‎ lateral, from Latin lateralis, compare with Latin bilateralis.

Adjective

bilateral (masculine and feminine bilateral, neuter bilateralt, definite singular and plural bilaterale)

1. bilateral

References

• “bilateral” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “bilateral” in Norwegian Academy Dictionary (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From bi- +‎ lateral, from Latin lateralis.

Adjective

bilateral (neuter bilateralt, definite singular and plural bilaterale)

1. bilateral

References

• “bilateral” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

▲

Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu.

Proto-Indo-European *dwís

Proto-Italic *dwis

Old Latin duis

Latin bislbor.

Portuguese bi-

Latin latus

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin laterālislbor.

Portuguese lateral

Portuguese bilateral

From bi- + lateral.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /bi.la.teˈɾaw/ [bi.la.teˈɾaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bi.lɐ.tɨˈɾal/ [bi.lɐ.tɨˈɾaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bi.lɐ.tɨˈɾal/ [bi.lɐ.tɨˈɾaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /bi.lɐ.tɨˈɾa.li/

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: bi‧la‧te‧ral

Adjective

bilateral m or f (plural bilaterais)

1. bilateral

Derived terms

• bilateralmente

Further reading

• “bilateral”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “bilateral”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

▲

Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu.

Proto-Indo-European *dwís

Proto-Italic *dwis

Old Latin duis

Latin bisder.

French bi-

Latin latus

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin laterālislbor.

French latéral

French bilatéralbor.

Romanian bilateral

Borrowed from French bilatéral. By surface analysis, bi- + lateral.

Adjective

bilateral m or n (feminine singular bilaterală, masculine plural bilaterali, feminine/neuter plural bilaterale)

1. two-way

Declension

Declension of bilateral

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	bilateral		bilaterală	bilaterali	bilaterale
	definite	bilateralul		bilaterala	bilateralii	bilateralele
genitive- dative	indefinite	bilateral		bilaterale	bilaterali	bilaterale
	definite	bilateralului		bilateralei	bilateralilor	bilateralelor

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

▲

Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu.

Proto-Indo-European *dwís

Proto-Italic *dwis

Old Latin duis

Latin bisder.

Spanish bi-

Latin latus

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin laterālisder.

Spanish lateral

Spanish bilateral

From bi- + lateral.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bilateˈɾal/ [bi.la.t̪eˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: bi‧la‧te‧ral

Adjective

bilateral m or f (masculine and feminine plural bilaterales)

1. bilateral

Derived terms

• bilateralismo
• bilateralizar
• bilateralmente

Further reading

• “bilateral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swedish

Adjective

bilateral (not comparable)

1. bilateral

Declension

Inflection of bilateral

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	bilateral	—	—
neuter singular	bilateralt	—	—
plural	bilaterala	—	—
masculine plural2	bilaterale	—	—
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	bilaterale	—	—
all	bilaterala	—	—

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

References

• “bilateral”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “bilateral”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “bilateral”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)