lingua

American  

[ling-gwuh] / ˈlɪŋ gwə /

noun

plural

linguae

1. the tongue or a part like a tongue.

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lingua British  

/ ˈlɪŋɡwə /

noun

1. the technical name for tongue

2. any tongue-like structure

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Etymology

Origin of lingua

1665–75; < Latin; akin to tongue

Example Sentences

It’s the kind of zippy, immersive crime thriller that reminds you of the international lingua franca that Scorsese all but invented with “Goodfellas.”

From Los Angeles Times

Somalia is to introduce Swahili, the lingua franca of East Africa, to its national curriculum, the president has announced.

From BBC

It’s not a matter of if but when: I live in a majority Latino city, near a Latino supermarket on a street where the lingua franca is Spanish.

From Los Angeles Times

Sport was the exception to the rule that all things American were the world’s cultural lingua franca.

From Los Angeles Times

The talk was in Spanish, an unremarkable fact given the language has been the lingua franca on most construction sites in Southern California for decades.

From Los Angeles Times