patois
nounUS /pæˈtwɑ/ · UK /ˈpæ.twɑː/
Etymology Borrowed from French patois (“regional dialect or language”), c. 1635.
1
A regional dialect (usually one considered substandard) of a language (especially French).
- [The Sundanese] are regarded as relatively barbarous, and in the company of Malays or Javanese, they are themselves ashamed of their dialect, which is looked on as a sort of rude patois.1890, [Jacques] Élisée Reclus, “Java”, in A. H. Keane, editor, Oceanica (The Earth and Its Inhabitants; 14), New York: D. Appleton and Company, Inhabitants:
- *The Expanse'*s patois has become, like Klingon and Dothraki, the show's great unifier—the slang all devotees speak.2017 April 5, Emily Dreyfuss, “That Cool Dialect on The Expanse Mashes Up 6 Languages”, in WIRED, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2022:
2
Any of various French, Franco-Provençal or Occitan dialects spoken in France.
3
Creole French in the Caribbean (especially in Dominica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti).
4
Jamaica, Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of Jamaican Patois.
5
Jargon or cant.
- In the patois of insurance, the winery will go bare into this year’s burning season, which experts predict to be especially fierce.2021 July 18, Christopher Flavelle, “Scorched, Parched and Now Uninsurable: Climate Change Hits Wine Country”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 01 Aug 2021:
- Synonyms
- Jamaican, Patwa, Jamaican Patois