patois

pat·ois  (ptwä, p-twä)

n. pl. pat·ois (ptwäz, p-twä)

1. A regional dialect, especially one without a literary tradition.

2.

a. A creole.

b. Nonstandard speech.

3. The special jargon of a group; cant. See Synonyms at dialect.

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[French, from Old French, possibly from pate, paw, from Vulgar Latin *patta, perhaps of imitative origin.]

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patois [pat-wah, pat-wahz]

Noun

pl patois

1. a regional dialect of a language

2. the jargon of a particular group [Old French: rustic speech]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	patois - a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves); "they don't speak our lingo" argot, jargon, lingo, vernacular, slang, cant bite - a portion removed from the whole; "the government's weekly bite from my paycheck" swiz - British slang for a swindle heist, rip-off - the act of stealing shakedown - extortion of money (as by blackmail) power trip - (slang) a self-aggrandizing action undertaken simply for the pleasure of exercising control over other people fuck, fucking, nookie, nooky, piece of ass, piece of tail, roll in the hay, screwing, shtup, ass, shag, screw - slang for sexual intercourse blowjob, cock sucking - slang for fellatio hand job, jacking off, jerking off, wank - slang for masturbation dekko - British slang for a look square-bashing - drill on a barracks square shakedown - a very thorough search of a person or a place; "a shakedown by the police uncovered the drugs" caff - informal British term for a cafe deck - street name for a packet of illegal drugs gat, rod - a gangster's pistol Mickey Finn - slang term for knockout drops nick - (British slang) a prison; "he's in the nick" dreck, schlock, shlock - merchandise that is shoddy or inferior cert - an absolute certainty; "it's a dead cert" legs - staying power; "that old Broadway play really has legs" soup-strainer, toothbrush - slang for a mustache arsehole, bunghole, arse, asshole - vulgar slang for anus bay window, potbelly, tummy, corporation, pot - slang for a paunch niff, pong - an unpleasant smell street name - slang for something (especially for an illegal drug); "`smack' is a street name for heroin" corker - (dated slang) a remarkable or excellent thing or person; "that story was a corker" hooey, poppycock, stuff and nonsense, stuff - senseless talk; "don't give me that stuff" baloney, bilgewater, boloney, bosh, drool, humbug, tommyrot, tosh, twaddle, taradiddle, tarradiddle - pretentious or silly talk or writing codswallop, folderol, trumpery, wish-wash, applesauce, tripe, rubbish, trash - nonsensical talk or writing skin flick - a pornographic movie dibs - a claim of rights; "I have dibs on that last slice of pizza" non-standard speech - speech that differs from the usual accepted, easily recognizable speech of native adult members of a speech community rhyming slang - slang that replaces words with rhyming words or expressions and then typically omits the rhyming component; "Cockney rhyming slang" bun-fight, bunfight - (Briticism) a grand formal party on an important occasion burnup - a high-speed motorcycle race on a public road nosh-up - a large satisfying meal hood - (slang) a neighborhood 'hood - (slang) a neighborhood paleface - (slang) a derogatory term for a white person (supposedly used by North American Indians) poor white trash, white trash - (slang) an offensive term for White people who are impoverished honkey, honkie, honky, whitey - (slang) offensive names for a White man slant-eye, gook - (slang) a disparaging term for an Asian person (especially for North Vietnamese soldiers in the Vietnam War) Injun, red man, Redskin - (slang) offensive term for Native Americans hymie, kike, sheeny, yid - (ethnic slur) offensive term for a Jew
	2.	patois - a regional dialect of a language (especially French); usually considered substandard French - the Romance language spoken in France and in countries colonized by France dialect, idiom, accent - the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people; "the immigrants spoke an odd dialect of English"; "he has a strong German accent"; "it has been said that a language is a dialect with an army and navy"

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patois

noun 1. dialect, vernacular

noun 2. jargon, slang, vernacular, patter, cant, lingo (informal) argot