Noun: lingo
| Singular | lingo |
| Plural | lingos; lingoes |
Sample Sentences
-
[...] I have Thoughts to tarry a ſmall Matter in Town, to learn ſomewhat of your Lingo firſt, before I croſs the Seas. [1700, [William] Congreve, The Way of the World, a Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene xv, page 47:]
-
"You see, ma'am, I can't divest myself of my professional lingo," observed Mr. Banks. [1846, George W.M. Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, volume 1, London: George Vickers, page 327:]
-
Nobody could make out plain what she said, for she was mainly jabbering Swede lingo, but there was English enough, of a kind, to give us some idee. [1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:]
-
The huntsman spoke Davey’s lingo. [1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 77:]
-
Granny Ava was the link: the last heathen of the family to speak the lingo fluently, before the Church waltzed in and jammed the Lord's Prayer in Granny Ruth's twelve-year-old mouth instead. [2018, Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much Lip, University of Queensland Press, published 2023, page 105:]
Nouns inflected like lingo
great go,
great-go,
senhor,
afrancesado,
sprite halo,
shacko,
commando,
villiaco,
magic Negro,
Phnom Laang bent-toed gecko,
chacmool,
yerbal,
depressor,
bombolo,
bolivar,
bolívar,
buccinator,
boratto,
botargo,
slashed zero, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From Latin lingua (“language”) + -o (diminutive suffix). See: Latin Nouns '
lingua'.