- a variation of lingoe.
lingo
1 Americannoun
-
lingoes
plural
-
the language and speech, especially the jargon, slang, or argot, of a particular field, group, or individual.
gamblers' lingo.
-
language or speech, especially if strange or foreign.
noun
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lingoes
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of lingo
1650–60; apparently alteration of lingua (franca); compare Polari lingo “language”
Explanation
Lingo is a way of speaking that's shared by a particular group of people — it's their own personal slang or jargon. You might observe International Talk Like a Pirate Day by trying to speak only pirate lingo. Sometimes people refer to the language or dialect spoken in a place as its lingo: "I'd love to visit Paris, but I don't speak the lingo." You're more likely to hear lingo in the context of the words and phrases one group understands, but that outsiders might not, like computer lingo or English major lingo, or musician's lingo. Lingo shares a Latin root, lingua, or "tongue," with words like language and linguist.
Vocabulary lists containing lingo
Vivacious Vernacular: Words About Slang
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Wink
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Merle Haggard (1937-2016) Tribute List
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
These types of initial roundups, dubbed "toppers" in White House press lingo, are usually followed by a long question-and-answer session in the packed room -- often extending to dozens of questions.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
In modern lingo, plague is shorthand for something really awful: “I caught the plague last weekend!,”
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
There’s sculling lingo to learn — eight seat, catching a crab, puddles, the engine room, rushing the slide.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
While you might know the lingo that describes what’s happening on the field, the salary-cap gain has a vocabulary all its own.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Pollard, in the lingo of jockeys, asked Seabiscuit the question.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
What a sad neglect in our education, among all the acquired lingoes extant, to have overlooked the Gaelic!
From Recreations of Christopher North, Volume I (of 2) by John Lyde Wilson
"All the lingoes you ever heard of are talked in Brest," said the Dutchman.
From The Noank's Log A Privateer of the Revolution by W. O. Stoddard
"I been listenin' good, an' I hear 'em jabber, jabber, jabber all dey fanciful lingoes, but I 'ain't heern nair one say polly fronsay, an' yit I know dats de riverend book French."
From Solomon Crow's Christmas Pockets and Other Tales by Ruth McEnery Stuart
Men may learn strange lingoes to humour their fellow-men, but how can any dog be expected to understand "Viens ici"?
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, December 12, 1917 by Various
"I'll bet you hablar those French and German lingoes like a native," he ventured.
From Heart of the Sunset by Rex Ellingwood Beach
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
