Milanese (endonym in traditional orthography Milanes, Meneghin) is the central variety of the Western dialect of the Lombard language spoken in Milan, the rest of its metropolitan city, and the northernmost part of the province of Pavia. Milanese, due to the importance of Milan, the largest city in Lombardy, is often considered one of the most prestigious Lombard variants and the most prestigious one in the Western Lombard area.
In Italian-language contexts, Milanese (like most indigenous Romance varieties spoken in Italy other than standard Italian) is often called a dialetto "dialect". This can be misunderstood to mean a variety of the Tuscan-derived national language, which it is not. Lombard in general, including Milanese, is a sister language of Tuscan, thus also of Italian, rather than a derivative. Typologically, Lombard is a Western Romance language, and more closely resembles other Gallo-Italic languages in Northern Italy (e.g. Piedmontese, Ligurian, Emilian, Romagnol) as well as others further afield, including Occitan and Romansh.
