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# lingua

«lingua» in Mova's school dictionary: **the Latin word for tongue and language** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (lingua); Latin word

### meaning for a pupil

1) (Latin) «Lingua» is the Latin word for tongue and language. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/#m1)

2) In English it appears mainly in the phrase «lingua franca», a language used by people who speak different languages so they can understand each other. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/#m2)

3) (medicine) The lingua is a rare medical word for the tongue. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In language lessons it explains words like «linguist», «bilingual» and «language», which come from it. Today English is a lingua franca in many parts of the world. Phrases: «lingua franca».

### examples

- «Lingua» is Latin for tongue. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/#x1)
- English is a lingua franca for many travellers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/#x2)
- Swahili is a lingua franca in East Africa. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/#x3)
- Long ago, Latin was the lingua franca of Europe. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/#x4)
- «Bilingual» comes from «bi» (two) and «lingua» (tongue). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/#x5)
- A linguist studies languages, from «lingua». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/#x6)
- In the market, they spoke a lingua franca to trade. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/#x7)
- (Italian) «Lingua» also means tongue and language in Italian. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/#x8)

### note

Not an ordinary English word alone; use «lingua franca» as a whole phrase. Say «LING-gwuh». Plural of lingua franca: lingua francas or linguae francae.

### In the corpora

- [A lingua franca is a shared language used between people who speak different first languages, such as Swahili in East Africa.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/25-languages-and-peoples-on-the-map/20/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «lingua» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lingua/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.