lingo

noun

lin·​go ˈliŋ-(ˌ)gō 

plural lingos or lingoes

: strange or incomprehensible language or speech: such as

a

: a foreign language

It can be hard to travel in a foreign country if you don't speak the lingo.

b

: the special vocabulary of a particular field of interest

The book has a lot of computer lingo.

c

: language characteristic of an individual

He has his own lingo … and at the top of each shift, he delivers a monologue that sets the table for his show.

—Tim Sullivan

Synonyms

• language
• mother tongue
• speech
• tongue
• vocabulary

Examples of lingo in a Sentence

It can be hard to travel in a foreign country if you don't speak the lingo.

The book has a lot of computer lingo that I don't understand.

Recent Examples on the Web

This series has many of his signatures: officers who take things too personally on account of their painful back stories, police lingo 101 and criminals whose clunky villainy could be ripped from a comic book. —Margaret Lyons, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2025

Well, to go back to lame culinary school lingo, because agitation promotes crystallization. —Bon Appétit, 9 Jan. 2025

Good luck at learning 2025's lingo Gen Alpha parents! —Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 29 Dec. 2024

Learn the coffee lingo In Singapore, a ‘coffee shop’ doesn’t mean a hipster java joint or a cannabis cafe. —Audrey Phoon, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

probably from Lingua Franca, language, tongue, from Occitan, from Latin lingua — more at tongue

First Known Use

1659, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

lingo

noun

lin·​go ˈliŋ-gō 

plural lingoes

: language that is strange or hard to understand