Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A regional dialect, especially one without a literary tradition.
- n. A creole.
- n. Nonstandard speech.
- n. The special jargon of a group; cant. See Synonyms at dialect.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A dialect peculiar to a district or locality, in use especially among the peasantry or uneducated classes; hence, a rustic, provincial, or barbarous form of speech.
Wiktionary
- n. A regional dialect of a language (especially French); usually considered substandard.
- n. Any of various French or Occitan dialects spoken in France.
- n. Creole French in the Caribbean (especially in Dominica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago& Haiti).
- n. A Jamaican Creole language primarily based on English and African languages but also has influences from Spanish, Portuguese and Hindi.
- n. Jargon or cant.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A dialect peculiar to the illiterate classes; a provincial form of speech.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a regional dialect of a language (especially French); usually considered substandard
- n. a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves)
Etymologies
- 1635, from French patois ("regional dialect or language"). See patois. (Wiktionary)
- French, from Old French, possibly from pate, paw, from Vulgar Latin *patta, perhaps of imitative origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The posts included a headshot of an African-American teenager and fake “quotes” written in patois rife with words like “dis” and “dat.””
Seattle Times Boots Five “Partner” Blogs Over Questionable April Fool’s Posts « PubliCola
“(That this mighty maternal figure speaks a Yiddish patois is an unlooked-for bonus.)”
“Matt sang bouncy little ditties in Creole patois or Caribbean dialect.”
“Moving, he shouted in Malay patois, a dialect he and Tak had agreed upon for future communication, rather than a Chinese dialect which might be understood by the tanjian.”
“The mere fact that you know the word patois shows that you must be mighty well educated.”
Behind the Beyond and Other Contributions to Human Knowledge
“They spoke to me in patois, which I did not understand, and seemed surprised to see us all in our nightgowns, forgetting that we had little else to put on till they had brought the luggage.”
“A little later a small herd of cattle passed, driven to pasture by a stolid Alsatian, who replied to the soldiers 'questions in German patois and shrugged his heavy shoulders like a Frenchman.”
“To which the guides responded with local songs in German patois: _Mi Vater isch en Appenzeller ... aou ... aou_ ...”
“Below them, in Cajun patois, he painted the slogan”
“Although some of the patois is non-grammatical, I wanted to retain it because that’s the rhythm of the region and if anyone has visited Singapore and reads the story, I hope they’ll get a smile from George Chua.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘patois’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Word Words
This used to be my nym list, but there are so many words about words, I think it's time to expand and open.
acronym, antonym, aptronym, autoantonym, autonym, bacronym, capitonym, contranym, contronym, eponym, exonym, heteronym and 120 more...
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Of Imitative Origin
Words formed in imitation of the sound of the things they signify.
bawl, biff, blizzard, blob, blooper, bob, boff, bomb, bonkers, boo, borborygmus, brouhaha and 148 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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250 Spelling Words
A selected sampling of words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
orecchiette, rhabdomancy, guayabera, orthoepy, opisthenar, maguey, proem, ciabatta, cioppino, banns, concinnity, asthenia and 237 more...
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briwref's list
defalcation, macerate, beldam, nescience, ochlocracy, bibelot, estivate, spatulated, introversive, mastoidal, belletristic, objurgation and 108 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 503 more...
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Metawords
Talking about talking, writing about writing, etc.
epizeuxis, tautological, aptote, bibliophagist, parataxis, scriptorium, aposiopesis, variorum, chantefable, boustrophedon, psellism, adoxography and 51 more...
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Actual Words
I checked, because I wasn't sure, but these words were coined and entered into a dictionary before I thought them up.
dishevelment, commoditize, feck, foppery, grimoire, apposite, impassible, reparable, arithmomania, patois, absquatulate, scopperil and 18 more...
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These words are about words.
words on words. yyep.
codex, folio, lexicon, tome, word stock, wordbook, wordlist, palaver, word index, argot, parlance, doublespeak and 68 more...
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Les Misérables
A selection of words from the epic by Victor Hugo
perquisites, dispensations, execrate, spikenard, fireplaace, effeminate foppery, delaine, hoarfrost, lackadaisicalness, ort, geldings, milch and 103 more...
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Favorite Words
pablum, maundy, histrionic, adamant, ascribe, verbiage, insouciant, erudite, gregarious, superfluous, banal, obdurate and 280 more...
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euphonic logorrhea
cephalopodous, plumulaceous, oblomovism, etiolation, pavonine, somnolent, logorrhea, fulguration, gossamer, prestidigitation, daffodil, inchoate and 174 more...
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Logodaedalus' Lexical Locutionary
Discombobulating the illiterate since the middle of the last century.
adiaphora, agitprop, alliteration, apophthegm, autarky, bête noire, bezoar, biorhythm, braggadocio, canaille, confabulate, confrère and 332 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for patois.
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