semantics - Difference between "fluency" and "fluidity"


Fluent seems to most commonly refer to language mastery, but in that context isn't it just saying that its delivery is fluid?


If so, am I communicating something different when using one over another or are they essentially interchangeable?



Answer



I will compare the adjectives fluent and fluid.


The etymologies of the words are shared and so is one of the meanings:



smooth and unconstrained in movement



So, when you speak about movement (literary or as metaphor), it is interchangeable.


Otherwise it is not:



fluent
- easy and graceful in shape
- expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively


fluid
- characteristic of a fluid; capable of flowing and easily changing shape
- subject to change; variable
- affording change (especially in social status)
- in cash or easily convertible to cash



NOTE: If you read the etymology entry, you will find that fluent was



Used interchangeably with fluid in Elizabethan times.



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