Koiné language
（重定向自Koineisation）
![Despite their different dialects, koineization in Ancient Greece enabled the various Greek political entities to maintain commercial and diplomatic relations.](/Images/godic/202501/22/William_Faden._Composite_Mediterranean._1785.I5005.jpg")
![Koiné Greek then went on to become the language of the Macedonian empire, and was widely used as a second language (though it did get some native speakers).](/Images/godic/202501/22/MacedonEmpire5005.jpg")
In linguistics, a koiné language (κοινή common language in Koiné Greek) is a standard language or dialect that has arisen as a result of contact between two or more mutually intelligible varieties (dialects) of the same language.
Since speakers already understood one another from before the advent of the koiné, the koineisation process is not as drastic as pidginization and creolization. Unlike pidginization and creolization, there is no "target" within Koine formation. It involves continuity in that speakers do not need to abandon their own linguistic varieties.