LINGUA FRANCA • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Lingua franca

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/lˈɪŋgwə frˈæŋkə/ Listen

noun

Lingua Franca n.

The commercial language of the Levant, a mixture of the languages of the people of the region and of foreign traders.

Any hybrid or other language used over a wide area as a common or commercial tongue among peoples of different speech.

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Etymology of 'Lingua franca'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Lingua franca" Quotes from Famous Books

... her again, in the lingua franca of a dozen systems. Nagor's voice faded. Riuku switched ...

— The Very Secret Agent • Mari Wolf

... and Monokutuba (lingua franca trade languages), many local languages and dialects (of which Kikongo is ...

— The 2007 CIA World Factbook • United States

... few. But in the sixteenth century, as Sir Arthur Helps truly says, men found in the thrill of controversy the interest they now take in novels. At that time, too, of all literary charms, that of good Latin prose was by far the most popular, and the language was still the "lingua franca" of the learned all the world over. Once we get so far as to appreciate that both subject and style were in its favour, the popularity of the volume will seem natural enough, for it is bright, pointed, strong, full of matter, bold, ...

— Ten Reasons Proposed to His Adversaries for Disputation in the Name • Edmund Campion