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
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
At some point, we reached a moment in our culture where being funny became the kind of lingua franca.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
His Russian has improved in prison, where it is a lingua franca among the inmates.
From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026
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 ● Nov. 18, 2025
Except that English is its chief lingua franca and Newspeak its official language, it is not centralized in any way.
From "1984" by George Orwell
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
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
Their operation, Lingua Franca, now sells elegant pinot noirs and chardonnays from purchased grapes and, this year, an excellent rosé from the vineyard’s first crop.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2017
"There’s a good deal of slippage here, from grammar through usage, syntax and diction all the way to regional accent," Ferriss writes at the Chronicle of Education's Lingua Franca blog.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2014
Lingua Franca, a jargon composed of a mixture of languages used in trade intercourse.
From The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by P. Austin Nuttall
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.
