a language used as a common or commercial tongue among people not speaking the same native language
a mode of communication representing or resembling a common language
This explains why ‘camp’, the secret argot of homosexuality, is also the lingua franca of theatreland — The Economist
the lingua franca of popular music — Punch
a language formerly spoken in Mediterranean ports that consisted of a mixture of Italian with French, Spanish, Greek, and Arabic elements
[Italian lingua franca, literally ‘Frankish language’]