: a tongue or an organ resembling a tongue
Examples of lingua in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The enduring popularity of Pakistani dramas in India and of Indian movies in Pakistan is partially explained by the mutual intelligibility of Hindi and Urdu – the lingua francas of India and Pakistan, respectively.
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Hasan Ali, Christian Science Monitor, 20 Aug. 2025
For one thing, linguine — long, lithe, dinner-level satisfying — comes from the Italian word lingua, which means tongue.
—Amy Drew Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 27 Oct. 2021
Ubisoft consulted with native Welsh speakers, 13th-century Icelandic texts, and Gaelic scholars to create the game's lingua-scape. Save this story for later.
—Amy Briscoe, Wired, 21 Apr. 2021
Periwinkle snails infected with the trematode species Cryptocotyle lingua, for instance, eat significantly less algae along their Atlantic coast homes, because the parasite weakens their digestive tracts.
—Ben Panko, Smithsonian, 7 Sep. 2017
French, Chinese, and Arabic have served as lingua francas at one time or another, but almost no one is fluent in Esperanto, the global linguistic mash-up.
—IEEE Spectrum, 28 June 2012
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Hasan Ali, Christian Science Monitor, 20 Aug. 2025
For one thing, linguine — long, lithe, dinner-level satisfying — comes from the Italian word lingua, which means tongue.
—Amy Drew Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 27 Oct. 2021
Ubisoft consulted with native Welsh speakers, 13th-century Icelandic texts, and Gaelic scholars to create the game's lingua-scape. Save this story for later.
—Amy Briscoe, Wired, 21 Apr. 2021
Periwinkle snails infected with the trematode species Cryptocotyle lingua, for instance, eat significantly less algae along their Atlantic coast homes, because the parasite weakens their digestive tracts.
—Ben Panko, Smithsonian, 7 Sep. 2017
French, Chinese, and Arabic have served as lingua francas at one time or another, but almost no one is fluent in Esperanto, the global linguistic mash-up.
—IEEE Spectrum, 28 June 2012
Cite this Entry
“Lingua.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lingua. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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