jargon

¹ American  

[jahr-guhn, -gon] / ˈdʒɑr gən, -gɒn /

noun

1. the language, especially the vocabulary, peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group.

   medical jargon.

2. unintelligible or meaningless talk or writing; gibberish.

   Synonyms:

   twaddle, gabble, babble

3. any talk or writing that one does not understand.

4. pidgin.

5. language that is characterized by uncommon or pretentious vocabulary and convoluted syntax and is often vague in meaning.

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verb (used without object)

1. to speak in or write jargon; jargonize.

jargon ² American  

[jahr-gon] / ˈdʒɑr gɒn /

Also jargoon

noun

1. a colorless to smoky gem variety of zircon.

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jargon ¹ British  

/ dʒɑːˈɡuːn, ˈdʒɑːɡɒn /

noun

1. rare mineralogy a golden yellow, smoky, or colourless variety of zircon

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jargon ² British  

/ ˈdʒɑːɡən /

noun

1. specialized language concerned with a particular subject, culture, or profession

2. language characterized by pretentious syntax, vocabulary, or meaning

3. gibberish

4. another word for pidgin

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verb

1. (intr) to use or speak in jargon

jargon Cultural  

1. A special language belonging exclusively to a group, often a profession. Engineers, lawyers, doctors, tax analysts, and the like all use jargon to exchange complex information efficiently. Jargon is often unintelligible to those outside the group that uses it. For example, here is a passage from a computer manual with the jargon italicized: “The RZ887-x current loop interface allows the computer to use a centronics blocked duplex protocol.” (See slang.)

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Synonym Usage

See language.

Other Word Forms

• jargoneer
  noun
• jargonist
  noun
• jargonistic
  adjective
• jargony
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of jargon¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English jargoun, from Middle French; Old French jargon, gargun, derivative of an unrecorded expressive base garg- designating the throat and its functions, as in gargle, gargoyle

Origin of jargon²

First recorded in 1760–70; from French, from Italian giargone, of uncertain origin; perhaps ultimately from Persian zargūn “gold-colored” ( cf. zircon ( def. )), equivalent to zar “gold” ( see also arsenic ( def. ), gold ( def. ), yellow ( def. )) + gūn “color”; alternatively, perhaps akin to Old French jacincte, also jacunces, jargonce jacinth ( def. )

Explanation

Jargon usually means the specialized language used by people in the same work or profession. Internet advertising jargon includes the terms "click throughs" and "page views." This noun can also refer to language that uses long sentences and hard words. If you say that someone's speech or writing is full of jargon, this means you don't approve of it and think it should be simplified. In Middle English, this word referred to chattering, so its origin is probably imitative: it echoes the sound of chatter or meaningless words.

Example Sentences

Because we are creating synthetic stock—trader jargon for using options to mimic actual shares—let’s use expirations of six months and longer to simulate equity ownership.

From Barron's • Jun. 24, 2026

In the jargon of investing, these are “quality” companies with a bias against extreme “growth” stocks—names such as Walmart, Coca-Cola and S&P Global itself.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026

The language used to describe snack tins is so flowery — and muddled by hyper-wellness jargon — it’s almost nonsensical.

From Salon • May 17, 2026

I wish the show’s wall text and labels weren’t so overloaded with jargon, verbs like navigating, negotiating, interrogating, decentering, decontextualizing, disrupting and destabilizing.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026

They had their own words for things, a jargon of obscure origin: for reasons even they had forgotten, they referred to butter as cheese; they called the grackles that perched in the treetops icklebirds.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Related Words

• argot
• idiom
• lingo
• parlance
• patois
• slang
• vernacular
• vocabulary