lingua franca
/ˈlɪŋ.ɡwə ˈfɹæŋ.kə/ noun, proper noun
Forms lingua francas lingue franche linguae francae linguas franca
- noun A common language used by people of diverse backgrounds to communicate with one another, often a basic form of speech with simplified grammar, particularly, one that is not the first language of any of its speakers.
- proper noun (historical, archaic) Sabir, the Italian-based pidgin that served as a common language of Mediterranean trade around the 11th-19th centuries.
Synonyms
koine link language trade language vehicular language Mediterranean Lingua Franca interlanguage
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian lingua franca (literally “Frankish language”).
See lingua franca.
Webster’s 1913
- The commercial language of the Levant, --a mixture of the language of the people of the region and foreign traders.
Etymology [It., prop., language of the Franks.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “lingua franca”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details