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Webster 1913 Edition


Patois

Paˊtois′

(pȧˊtwä′)
,
Noun.
[F.]
A dialect peculiar to the illiterate classes; a provincial form of speech.
The jargon and
patois
of several provinces.
Sir T. Browne.

Definition 2024


patois

patois

English

Noun

patois (plural patois)

  1. A regional dialect of a language (especially French); usually considered substandard.
  2. Any of various French or Occitan dialects spoken in France.
  3. Creole French in the Caribbean (especially in Dominica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti).
  4. Jamaican Patois, a Jamaican Creole language primarily based on English and African languages but also has influences from Spanish, Portuguese and Hindi.
  5. Jargon or cant.

Translations

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French

Etymology

From Middle French patois (local dialect), from Old French patois (incomprehensible speech, rude language), alteration (due to influence of the suffix -ois in words relating to nationalities and languages) of earlier *patoi, a deverbal of Old French patoier (to gesticulate, handle clumsily, paw), from pate (paw), from Vulgar Latin *patta (paw, foot), from Frankish *patta (paw, sole of the foot), from Proto-Germanic *pat-, *paþa- (to walk, tread, go, step), of uncertain origin and relation. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pent-/*(s)pat- (path; to walk), a variant of Proto-Indo-European *pent-/*pat- (path; to go). Cognate with Dutch pat, Low German pedden (to step, tread). Related to pad, path.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pa.twa/

Noun

patois m (plural patois)

  1. patois (French dialect)
  2. patois (any regional dialect)
    On entendait, à côté du lourd patois dorien, retentir les syllabes celtiques bruissantes comme des chars de bataille, Gustave Flaubert - Salammbô, page 29.

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Italian

Etymology

From French patois.

Noun

patois m (invariable)

  1. patois

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