patois

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
8
Words With Friends
9
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/pæˈtwɑ/
See all 4 pronunciations
/pæˈtwɑ/ · /ˈpæ.twɑː/ · /pæˈtwɑz/ · /ˈpæ.twɑːz/

Definition of patois

6 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. (countable, uncountable)A regional dialect (usually one considered substandard) of a language (especially French).
    “[The Sundanese] are regarded as relatively barbarous, and in the company of Malays or Javanese, they are themselves ashamed of their dialect, which is looked on as a sort of rude patois.”
    “*The Expanse'*s patois has become, like Klingon and Dothraki, the show's great unifier—the slang all devotees speak.”
See all 6 definitions

noun

  1. (countable, uncountable)A regional dialect (usually one considered substandard) of a language (especially French).
    “[The Sundanese] are regarded as relatively barbarous, and in the company of Malays or Javanese, they are themselves ashamed of their dialect, which is looked on as a sort of rude patois.”
    “*The Expanse'*s patois has become, like Klingon and Dothraki, the show's great unifier—the slang all devotees speak.”
  2. (countable, uncountable)Any of various French or Occitan dialects spoken in France.
  3. (countable, uncountable)Creole French in the Caribbean (especially in Dominica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti).
  4. (Jamaica, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable)Ellipsis of Jamaican Patois.
  5. (countable, uncountable)Jargon or cant.
    “In the patois of insurance, the winery will go bare into this year’s burning season, which experts predict to be especially fierce.”

name

  1. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of Patwa.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

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

Anagrams of patois

4 plays · some not in Scrabble

Best play patios 8 points

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