English
similect
Coined by Anna Mauranen in a paper in 2012, from similar + -lect, modelled on dialect, etc.
Formed from similar + -lect
Proto-Indo-European *sem- ‘one, together’
…
Proto-Italic *semalis ‘similar’
Latin similis ‘like’
Medieval Latin similaris
French similaire
English similar
The story
Coined by Anna Mauranen in a paper in 2012, from similar + -lect, modelled on dialect, etc.
Today it means
noun A variety of a language spoken by people who have a different first language, with features transferred from the first language in parallel by individual speakers rather than by a cohesive group.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “similect”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / similect