Phrase guide

lingua franca

name · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈlɪŋ.ɡwə ˈfɹæŋ.kə/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

name

Meaning 1

Sabir, the Italian-based pidgin that served as a common language of Mediterranean trade around the 11th-19th centuries.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, historical

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Mediterranean Lingua Franca

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: koine, link language, trade language, vehicular language

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a common language used by speakers of different languages

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Koine is a dialect of ancient Greek that was the lingua franca of the empire of Alexander the Great and was widely spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean area in Roman times

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: interlanguage, koine

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: language, linguistic communication

History

Etymology

See lingua franca.

Borrowed from Italian lingua franca (literally “Frankish language”).

Across languages

Translations

56 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: lingua franca — common language
  • Arabic: لُغَة تَوَاصُل مُشْتَرَك (luḡat tawāṣul muštarak) — common language
  • Azerbaijani: ortaq dil — common language
  • Bulgarian: лингва франка (lingva franka) — common language
  • Chinese Mandarin: 通用語 /通用语 (tōngyòngyǔ) — common language
  • Chinese Mandarin: 交際語 /交际语 (jiāojìyǔ) — common language
  • Chinese Mandarin: 共通語 /共通语 (gòngtōngyǔ) — common language
  • Chinese Mandarin: 共同語言 /共同语言 (gòngtóng yǔyán) — common language
  • Chinese Mandarin: 共同語 /共同语 (gòngtóngyǔ) — common language
  • Danish: fællessprog — common language
  • Danish: lingua franca — common language
  • Dutch: lingua franca — common language
  • Finnish: lingua franca — common language
  • French: lingua franca — common language
  • French: langue véhiculaire — common language
  • French: langue franche — common language
  • Galician: lingua franca — common language
  • Georgian: ლინგვა ფრანკა (lingva pranḳa) — common language
  • Georgian: საერთო სასაუბრო ენა (saerto sasaubro ena) — common language
  • Georgian: სალაპარაკო ენა (salaṗaraḳo ena) — common language
  • German: Lingua Franca — common language
  • German: Verkehrssprache — common language
  • Greek: as in Italian — common language
  • Greek: κοινή f γλώσσα (koiní) — common language
  • Hungarian: közvetítőnyelv — common language
  • Indonesian: basantara — common language
  • Indonesian: lingua franca — common language
  • Indonesian: bahasa perantara — common language
  • Indonesian: bahasa pasar — common language
  • Indonesian: bahasa dagang — common language
  • Irish: francbhéarla — common language
  • Italian: lingua franca — common language
  • Japanese: リングワ・フランカ (ringuwa-furanka) — common language
  • Japanese: リンガフランカ (ringafuranka) — common language
  • Japanese: 共通語 (kyōtsūgo) — common language
  • Korean: 공통어 (gongtong'eo) — common language
  • Korean: 링구아 프랑카 (ringgua peurangka) — common language
  • Latin: lingua franca — common language
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fellesspråk — common language
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fellesspråk — common language
  • Persian: زبان میانجی (zabân-e miyânji) — common language
  • Polish: lingua franca — common language
  • Portuguese: língua franca — common language
  • Russian: ли́нгва-фра́нка (língva-fránka) — common language
  • Russian: о́бщий язы́к (óbščij jazýk) — common language
  • Russian: язы́к обще́ния — common language
  • Spanish: lengua vehicular — common language
  • Spanish: lengua franca — common language
  • Spanish: lingua franca — common language
  • Swedish: lingua franca — common language
  • Tagalog: wikang kompromiso — common language
  • Thai: ภาษากลาง (paasăa glaang) — common language
  • Tibetan: སྤྱི་སྐད (spyi skad) — common language
  • Turkish: geçer dil ortak dil — common language
  • Turkish: lingua franca — common language
  • Urdu: رابطہ زبان (rābita-zabān) — common language