lingo
1 Americannoun
plural
lingoes-
the language and speech, especially the jargon, slang, or argot, of a particular field, group, or individual.
gamblers' lingo.
-
language or speech, especially if strange or foreign.
noun
plural
lingoesnoun
Etymology
Origin of lingo
1650–60; apparently alteration of lingua (franca); compare Polari lingo “language”
Explanation
Lingo is a way of speaking that's shared by a particular group of people — it's their own personal slang or jargon. You might observe International Talk Like a Pirate Day by trying to speak only pirate lingo. Sometimes people refer to the language or dialect spoken in a place as its lingo: "I'd love to visit Paris, but I don't speak the lingo." You're more likely to hear lingo in the context of the words and phrases one group understands, but that outsiders might not, like computer lingo or English major lingo, or musician's lingo. Lingo shares a Latin root, lingua, or "tongue," with words like language and linguist.
Vocabulary lists containing lingo
Vivacious Vernacular: Words About Slang
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Wink
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Merle Haggard (1937-2016) Tribute List
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There's a lot of astro-jargon involved in space missions, and TLI is the latest space lingo many of those following this mission have come to know.
From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026
The latest lingo bingo words are AI agents, context and business ontology.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 1, 2026
Macroeconomists call such a scenario “indeterminacy” — economist lingo that simply means that key macroeconomic variables such as employment, output growth and inflation have no stable resting point.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 13, 2026
In the healthcare and insurance lingo we’ve all been forced to learn and use in recent years, this was a “well visit.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 21, 2025
One of the first things needed when you begin the study of any subject is a little introduction to the "lingo."
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
