patois

Meaning

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.

Synonyms

dialect

lingo

slang

vernacular

jargon

argot

idiom

cant

lect

phraseology

pooch

provincialism

variant

variety

Arpitan

Hyphenated as

pat‧ois

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pæˈtwɑ/

Etymology

1635, from French patois (“regional dialect or language”).