patois
/pæˈtwɑ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.35 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A regional dialect (usually one considered nonstandard) of a language (especially French).
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Any of various French, Franco-Provençal or Occitan dialects spoken in France.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Creole French in the Caribbean (especially in Dominica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti).
Countable; Uncountable
name
Alternative form of Patwa.
Example Sentences
- "[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."
- "*The Expanse'*s patois has become, like Klingon and Dothraki, the show's great unifier—the slang all devotees speak."
- "In the patois of insurance, the winery will go bare into this year’s burning season, which experts predict to be especially fierce."
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pæˈtwɑ/
- British English: /ˈpæ.twɑː/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Linguistics.