Word.ws English Dictionary

patois

Syllables: pat·oisUK/ˈpæ.twɑː//pæˈtwɑ/

patois noun: a regional dialect (usually one considered nonstandard) of a language (especially French). Also the ellipsis of Jamaican Patois.

Noun

patois (countable and uncountable, plural patois)

  1. A regional dialect (usually one considered nonstandard) 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.1890, [Jacques] Élisée Reclus, “Java”, in A. H. Keane, editor, Oceanica (The Earth and Its Inhabitants; 14), New York: D. Appleton and Company, Inhabitants
    • *The Expanse'*s patois has become, like Klingon and Dothraki, the show's great unifier—the slang all devotees speak.2017 April 5, Emily Dreyfuss, “That Cool Dialect on The Expanse Mashes Up 6 Languages”, in WIRED, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2022
  2. Any of various French, Franco-Provençal or Occitan dialects spoken in France.
  3. Creole French in the Caribbean (especially in Dominica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti).
  4. 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.2021 July 18, Christopher Flavelle, “Scorched, Parched and Now Uninsurable: Climate Change Hits Wine Country”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 01 Aug 2021

Proper noun capitalized: Patois

Patois

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of Patwa.

Also used as

patois is also the ellipsis of Jamaican Patois.

patois meaning in Hindi

patois in Hindi

regional dialect of a language
पात्वा pātvā

Synonyms of patois

Forms of patois

pluralpatois
alternative formPatois

Plural of patois: patois

Origin of patois

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

Phrases with patois

Words that rhyme with patois

Questions about patois

What does patois mean?
Patois means a regional dialect (usually one considered nonstandard) of a language (especially French).
What is patois in Hindi?
Patois in Hindi is पात्वा (pātvā). See Patois meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is patois?
Patois can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce patois?
Patois is pronounced /pæˈtwɑ/ (US).
What is the plural of patois?
The plural of patois is patois.

Words near patois in the dictionary

  1. Patnode
  2. Patnodes
  3. Patnos
  4. pato
  5. Patoc
  6. patois
  7. Patoka
  8. patola
  9. patolas
  10. patole
  11. patolli

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: patois (page history and authors); Patois (page history and authors). 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-patois.ogg.

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