pidgin
Americannoun
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an auxiliary language that has come into existence through the attempts by the speakers of two or more different languages to communicate and that is primarily a simplified form of one of the languages, with a reduced vocabulary and grammatical structure and considerable variation in pronunciation.
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(loosely) any simplified or broken form of a language, especially when used for communication between speakers of different languages.
noun
Etymology
Origin of pidgin
First recorded in 1875–80; extracted from pidgin English
Explanation
A pidgin is a simplified language that is usually formed from elements of two different languages — allowing basic communication between groups of people who don't share a common tongue. If you're visiting Mexico but you don't speak Spanish, you may use a kind of pidgin to talk to locals — a combination of Spanish and English. Or the locals may speak a pidgin version of English to communicate with you. Most pidgins include various elements of different languages in addition to the primary source of vocabulary — but they're all made up. The word pidgin is thought to derive from a Chinese pronunciation of the word business as "bigeon" and eventually "pidgin."
Vocabulary lists containing pidgin
Vivacious Vernacular: Words About Slang
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Human Geography - Middle School
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Human Geography - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Their Western accents dip in and out of Pidgin, their wallets are boosted by the exchange rate, and their presence fuels the economy.
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2025
My editor appreciated the authenticity right from the start, including the nuanced Hawaiian Pidgin English some of my characters speak, and the value-added glossary I provided at the end.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2025
The six-part series features Nigerian Pidgin - a mix of English and local languages -and all characters are voiced by actors from the West African country.
From BBC • Feb. 28, 2024
The former farmers market stand and pop-up/events business is currently transitioning to become a worker-owned co-op named Pidgin.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 30, 2024
Instead of standard English, everyone spoke Hawaiian Pidgin, a language mash-up created by Hawaiians and early Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and American immigrants.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
