dialect

Meaning

1. (strict-sense) A lect (often a regional or minority language) as part of a group or family of languages, especially if they are viewed as a single language, or if contrasted with a standardized idiom that is considered the 'true' form of the language (for example, Bavarian as contrasted with Standard German).
2. (broadly) A variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular area, community, or social group, differing from other varieties of the same language in relatively minor ways as regards grammar, phonology, and lexicon.
3. (derogatory) Language that is perceived as substandard or wrong.
4. (colloquial, offensive) A language existing only in an oral or non-standardized form, especially a language spoken in a developing country or an isolated region.
5. A variant of a non-standardized programming language.
6. A variant form of the vocalizations of a bird species restricted to a certain area or population.

Synonyms

language

accent

patois

slang

vernacular

idiom

speech

lingo

pronunciation

way of speaking

way of talking

register

localism

regional speech

ideolect

gnaw

pooch

provincialism

say

🗣️

sound

🔉

spoken language

talk

🗣️

tone

tongue

👅

tune

utterance

variant

variety

words

lect

speech pattern

vernacularism

regional variation in pronunciation

speeh

argot

brogue

cant

colloquialism

colloquial language

dialectal

dialectic

foreign language

jargon

linguistic group

locution

manner of speech

native tongue

parlance

phraseology

Translations

dialecte

Dialekt

dialecto

dialetto

Mundart

dialect

dialecte

διάλεκτος

dialeto

dialecto

lehçe

tongval

patois

dialectus

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈdaɪ.əˌlɛkt/

Etymology

From Middle French dialecte, from Latin dialectos, dialectus, from Ancient Greek διάλεκτος (diálektos, “conversation, the language of a country or a place or a nation, the local idiom which derives from a dominant language”), from διαλέγομαι (dialégomai, “I participate in a dialogue”), from διά (diá, “inter, through”) + λέγω (légō, “I speak”); by surface analysis, dia- + -lect.