koine
/kɔɪˈneɪ/noun
koine is a noun meaning “A linguistic variety that has developed in supraregional contact between speakers of various interrelated dialects, typically in such a way that…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled K-O-I-N-E and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 13 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of koine is koines or koinai.
What does koine mean?
noun
- 1
A linguistic variety that has developed in supraregional contact between speakers of various interrelated dialects, typically in such a way that features shared by several dialects prevail and those of limited distribution are avoided.
- 2
A lingua franca.
noun
- 1
Alternative spelling of koine.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce koine?
- UK /ˈkɔɪneɪ/
- UK /ˈkɔɪniː/
- US /kɔɪˈneɪ/
Koine has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-koine.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Sumxr-Koine.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of koine
- koines plural
- koinai plural
- coene
- koiné
- koinés plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is koine?
Koine appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 106,501st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Koine in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense regional language that becomes standard:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does koine come from?
Borrowed from Ancient Greek κοινή (koinḗ), feminine form of κοινός (koinós, “common, general”). Doublet of koinon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).