lingua franca
noun
any language that is widely used as a means of communication among speakers of other languages.
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lingua franca
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Lingua Franca
Lingua Francanouna particular lingua franca spoken from the time of the Crusades to the 18th century in the ports of the Mediterranean, based on Italian, Spanish, French, Arabic, Greek, and Turkish
lingua franca
American
[frang-kuh]
/ ˈfræŋ kə /
noun
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lingua francas,
plural
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linguae francae
plural
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any language that is widely used as a means of communication among speakers of other languages.
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(initial capital letter) the Italian-Provençal jargon (with elements of Spanish, French, Greek, Arabic, and Turkish) formerly widely used in eastern Mediterranean ports.
lingua franca
1
British
/ ˈlɪŋɡwə ˈfræŋkə /
noun
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a language used for communication among people of different mother tongues
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a hybrid language containing elements from several different languages used in this way
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any system of communication providing mutual understanding
Lingua Franca
2
British
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of lingua franca
1670–80; < Italian: literally, Frankish tongue
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:
Luxe-maxxing influencers drink all this up, of course, as the lingua franca of social media influence is often wealth culture FOMO.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Lego’s effectiveness as a visual lingua franca must be both a point of pride for The Lego Group and, at times, its bane.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
His Russian has improved in prison, where it is a lingua franca among the inmates.
From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026
Sport was the exception to the rule that all things American were the world’s cultural lingua franca.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2025
The songs and sounds they’ve absorbed are part of western musical style, and are now part of the musical lingua franca or the music that is “normal” for them.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Afterward, she suggests going to Lingua Franca, a restaurant situated along the river.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 6, 2026
He was later a contributing editor at Lingua Franca, a now-defunct publication about academic life, among other jobs.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 27, 2022
This quilted tote, inscribed with that apt phrase, is a collaboration between the handbag label MZ Wallace and the embroidery specialists Lingua Franca.
From New York Times ● Oct. 10, 2018
Time has only burnished the reputations of Oregon Pinot pioneers St. Innocent, Brick House and Domaine Drouhin, while newer wineries such as Lingua Franca, Nicolas-Jay and Lachini Vineyards make use of Burgundian talent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2018
Her voice waxed shrill and angry, and her antagonists' replies in Lingua Franca, mixed with Arabic, Latin, and Greek, rang through the tent, till the Prince could bear it no longer.
From The Prince and the Page; a story of the last crusade by Charlotte Mary Yonge
Definitions 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.
