Word.ws English Dictionary

creole

/ˈkɹi.əʊl//ˈkɹioʊl/

creole noun: a language formed from two or more languages which has developed from a pidgin to become a first language. Also the alternative letter-case form of Creole.

Noun (1)

creole (plural creoles)

  1. A language formed from two or more languages which has developed from a pidgin to become a first language.
    • There are three orders of people: those who were alive when the French possessed the island: they understand the good French; those who were born in the heat of the Revolution, and who have arrived at maturity without instruction, these speak only Creole[…]1818, The Methodist Magazine, page 317
    • From the point of view of syntactic analysis, I have shown how transformational theory may be applied to the syntax of a Creole language.1966, Beryl Loftman Bailey, Jamaican Creole Syntax, page 144
  2. A style of hoop earrings with a hoop that has an inconsistent thickness and/or is elongated in shape.

Noun (2) capitalized: Creole

UK/ˈkɹiːəʊl/US/ˈkɹiˌoʊl/

Creole (plural Creoles)

  1. A descendant of European settlers who is born in a colonized country.
    • Within the Spanish society, a great difference evolved between the Insular Spaniards, sent over for different periods of time from Spain, to serve as officials, etc., and the "native" Spaniards, the Creoles.1969, Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt, The Political Systems of Empires, page 76
  2. Anyone with mixed ancestry born in a country colonized by Europeans, now especially one who speaks a creole language.
  3. Someone of African descent who is born in the Caribbean or Americas (originally as opposed to an African immigrant).
  4. A native-born of Francophone descent in the Louisiana territory of any race, as opposed to Anglo-American settlers.

Adjective capitalized: Creole

UK/ˈkɹiːəʊl/US/ˈkɹiˌoʊl/

Creole (comparative more Creole, superlative most Creole)

  1. Pertaining to or characteristic of someone who is a Creole.
  2. That is a Creole; especially, born in a colonized country different from that of his or her ancestors.
  3. Designating a creolized language.
  4. Prepared according to a cooking style developed in a Creole area, now especially that of Louisiana, characterised by a mixture of European and African influences.

Proper noun capitalized: Creole

UK/ˈkɹiːəʊl/US/ˈkɹiˌoʊl/

Creole

  1. Any specific creole language, especially that of Haiti.
    • She grew up speaking Creole.
    • Along with French, Creole is one of Haiti's official languages.

Also used as

creole is also the alternative letter-case form of Creole.

creole meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

creole in Hindi

lect descended from a pidgin language
क्रियोल भाषा kriyol bhāṣā

creole in Tamil

lect descended from a pidgin language
கிரியோல் மொழி kiriyōl moḻi

creole in Marathi

क्रेओल, क्रिओल, क्रियोल

creole in Urdu

کریول, کریئول, کریوول
More languagesFewer languages
creole in Bengali
ক্রেওল, ক্রিওল, ক্রিয়োল
creole in Telugu
క్రియోల్, క్రెయోల్, క్రియోలే
creole in Malayalam
ക്രിയോൾ
creole in Kannada
ಕ್ರಿಯೋಲ್, ಕ್ರೆಯೋಲ್
creole in Punjabi
ਕ੍ਰਿਓਲ, ਕ੍ਰੀਓਲ, ਕਰੀਓਲ
creole in Gujarati
ક્રેઓલ, ક્રિઓલ, ક્રિયોલ
creole in Odia
କ୍ରିଓଲ, କ୍ରିଓଲ୍, କ୍ରେଓଲ
creole in Nepali
क्रियोल, क्रेओल, क्रिओल
creole in Indonesian
bahasa kreol
creole in Persian
کریول
creole in Thai
ภาษาครีโอล

Examples of creole in a sentence

  • Creoles, which involve a language shift, are found in communities where a pidgin language had served as a lingua franca.
  • The are two perspectives on the relationship between Réunionnais, a semicreole, and Mauritian, a typical plantation creole.
  • In one dimension change is directed toward the acrolect, the “typical” change in the creole continuum.

All 12 example sentences with creole

Forms of creole

Noun
pluralcreoles
pluralCreoles
Adjective
comparativemore Creole
superlativemost Creole

Plural of creole: creoles

Origin of creole

English creole See Creole. Attested in English to refer to language from the 18th century.

Variously from French créole, from its source, Spanish criollo, and from its source, Portuguese crioulo, itself probably a diminutive of cria (“person raised in one’s house, servant”), from criar (“to rear, to bring up”), from Latin creō (“to create, make, produce”). Doublet of Criollo, Crioulo, and Krio.

Words formed from creole

Phrases with creole

16 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about creole

What does creole mean?
Creole means a language formed from two or more languages which has developed from a pidgin to become a first language.
What is creole in Hindi?
Creole in Hindi is क्रियोल भाषा (kriyol bhāṣā). See Creole meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is creole?
Creole can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce creole?
Creole is pronounced /ˈkɹi.əʊl/ (UK).
What is the plural of creole?
The plural of creole is creoles.

Words near creole in the dictionary

  1. crenules
  2. creo
  3. creo-
  4. creodont
  5. creodonts
  6. creole
  7. Creole cottage
  8. Creole cottages
  9. Creole cream cheese
  10. Creole pig
  11. Creole pigs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: creole (page history and authors); Creole (page history and authors); creole (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); creole (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); creole (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); creole (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); creole (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); creole (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); creole (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); creole (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); creole (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); creole (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-creole.ogg, en-us-creole.ogg.

Cite this entry: “creole.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/creole. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.