Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

parleyvoo

/ˌpɑɹ.liˈvu/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: par-leyvoo
IPA: /ˌpɑɹ.liˈvu/

17

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The French language, especially as understood by an English person.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A French person.

Archaic; Countable

verb

To speak a foreign language, especially French.

Dated; Humorous; Intransitive verb

Example Sentences

"Lynch. Let him alone. He's back from Paris […] Zoe. O go on! Give us some parleyvoo."
"[O]ne of these d—d Parlivoos will go farther with some women in a day, than an Englishman in a month—all owing to their impudence; for a common man has as much impudence in France as a man-midwife has in England."
"We were hardy British tars who had pity on a poor Parley-voo"

Etymology

From French parlez-vous.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˌpɑɹ.liˈvu/
British English: /ˌpɑː.liˈvuː/

Usage

Inflected Forms

parleyvoos (plural) parley-voo (alternative) parley-vous (alternative) parlez vous (alternative) parlez-vous (alternative) parlyvoo (alternative) parleyvoos (present, singular) parleyvooing (participle, present) parleyvooed (participle, past) parleyvooed (past)

Questions

How do you pronounce parleyvoo?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˌpɑɹ.liˈvu/.
What does parleyvoo mean?: The French language, especially as understood by an English person.
Where does parleyvoo come from?: From French parlez-vous.

How to pronounce parleyvoo

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Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌpɑɹ.liˈvu/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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