argot
Americannoun
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a specialized idiomatic vocabulary peculiar to a particular class or group of people, especially that of an underworld group, devised for private communication and identification.
a Restoration play rich in thieves' argot.
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the special vocabulary and idiom of a particular profession or social group.
sociologists' argot.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of argot
1855–60; < French, noun derivative of argoter to quarrel, derivative Latin ergō ergo with v. suffix -oter
Explanation
Argot is language particular to a specific group. It can mean a kind of slang, a technical language or a code. In high school, only those who spend their time studying computer manuals could understand the argot of the computer lab kids. The word argot was originally used to describe the slang of thieves and rogues, who spoke in sneaky ways that the upright citizen couldn’t understand. We can also use argot to describe less criminal kinds of vocabularies. Any specialized practice can create an argot: boxers talk of bodyshots and jabs, just as grammar teachers complain of split infinitives and dangling participles.
Vocabulary lists containing argot
Vivacious Vernacular: Words About Slang
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Hidden Figures
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Challenge, List 11
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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.
There’s also a glossary of Blood Argot so that readers can differentiate between Children of the Millennia, Children of the Night, Children of Satan and the Coven of the Articulate.
From Washington Post
Ardent biographers of the composer Handel were surprised to learn that their idol was such a close student of Parisian slang that he had written an authoritative work on the subject: Handel's L' Argot.
From Time Magazine Archive
Then came the Kingdom of Argot; that is to say, all the thieves of France, arranged according to the order of their dignity; the minor people walking first.
From Notre-Dame De Paris by Hapgood, Isabel Florence
Argot, �r′go, or �r′got, n. slang, originally that of thieves and vagabonds: cant.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
The address on the parcel was "Madame Argot," I was informed, but I must get myself certified to before I could receive it.
From Russian Rambles by Hapgood, Isabel Florence
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.
