patois
Americannoun
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patois
plural
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a regional form of a language, especially of French, differing from the standard, literary form of the language.
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a rural or provincial form of speech.
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jargon; cant; argot.
noun
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an unwritten regional dialect of a language, esp of French, usually considered substandard
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the jargon of particular group
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of patois
1635–45; < French: literally clumsy speech; akin to Old French patoier to handle clumsily, derivative of pate paw
Explanation
The noun patois describes the way you talk, like the patois of New Englanders who tend to drop the letter r: "Drive yah cah to Hahvahd Yahd," while others say, "Drive your car to Harvard Yard." Patois, which rhymes with "voilà," is speech used in a particular region, profession, or group. It is a French word that originated as "rough speech." Examples of patois are found in every region of the world, but perhaps the most famous is Jamaican. "Ah wha dat yuh ah luok pan?," is Jamaican patois for, "What’s that you’re looking at?" Patois is also the "jargon" or "lingo" used by a group, such as musicians whose patois is lost on non-musicians.
Vocabulary lists containing patois
Vivacious Vernacular: Words About Slang
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The Other Wes Moore
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The Sun Is Also a Star
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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.
The AI agents had traded information on their tasks in a clipped patois that took time to decipher.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
To the uninitiated, Bangaranga seems cast in the mould of nonsensical Eurovision songs like Diggi-Lou, Digg-Lay - but the title actually means "uproar" in Jamaican patois.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
The missives have largely mimicked the president’s own social media patois, with hyperbole, petty insults and a heavy reliance on the “caps lock” key.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2025
The patois changes from office to office and company to company, and the meanings behind certain terms shift from person to person.
From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2025
The melodic, swooping movement of her Jamaican patois was quickly replaced by the more stable cadences of American English.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
