pidgin
/ˈpɪ.d͡ʒɪn/US/ˈpɪ.d͡ʒən/
pidgin noun: an amalgamation of two disparate languages, used by two populations having no common language as a lingua franca to communicate with each other, lacking formalized grammar and having a small, utilitarian vocabulary and no native speakers. The speech is slow and supported by mime and gesture.
Noun
pidgin (countable and uncountable, plural pidgins)
- An amalgamation of two disparate languages, used by two populations having no common language as a lingua franca to communicate with each other, lacking formalized grammar and having a small, utilitarian vocabulary and no native speakers. The speech is slow and supported by mime and gesture.
- ‘I didnʼt know you can speak pidgin,’ he said and laughed.2019, Chigozie Obioma, An Orchestra of Minorities, Abacus (2019), page 79
- Synonyms:
- baragouin
- A person's business, occupation, work, or trade (also spelt as pigeon).
- Forget money. That's my pidgin.1950, Robert A. Heinlein, The Man Who Sold the Moon
- It's up to the detective sergeant to ask his own questions, that's not my pidgin. But I did wonder if either of you gentlemen had an idea of the exact time of the shot.2015, Guy Cullingford, Post Mortem
pidgin meaning in Tamil, Kannada, Thai and Vietnamese
pidgin in Tamil
- amalgamation of two languages having no native speakers
- பிட்யின் piṭyiṉ
pidgin in Kannada
- ಬೆರಕೆಭಾಷೆ, ಸಂಕರಭಾಷೆ, ಬೆರಕೆನುಡಿ
pidgin in Thai
- amalgamation of two languages having no native speakers
- พิดจิน pid-jin
pidgin in Vietnamese
- amalgamation of two languages having no native speakers
- pít-gin
More languagesFewer languages
- pidgin in Myanmar
- ပစ်ဂျင် pacgyang
Examples of pidgin in a sentence
- Creoles, which involve a language shift, are found in communities where a pidgin language had served as a lingua franca.
- This is because by definition, a pidgin is not learned natively.
- Pidgin is a combination of expressions and phrases that are recognizable to those who speak it.
Synonyms of pidgin
Forms of pidgin
| plural | pidgins |
|---|
Origin of pidgin
From pidgin English, from a Chinese Pidgin English pronunciation of English business during trade in the Far East. All attestations of pidgin from the first half of the nineteenth century given in the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary mean “business; an action, occupation, or affair” (the earliest being from 1807). Other suggested derivations include: * Hebrew פִּדְיוֹן (pidyón, “exchange; trade; redemption”) * Chinese pronunciation of Portuguese ocupação (“occupation; business”) * South Seas pronunciation of beach * Portuguese baixo (“low”)
Words formed from pidgin
- Chinese pidgin English
- expanded pidgin
- Melanesian Pidgin English
- New South Wales Pidgin English
- NSW Pidgin English
- pidginisation
- pidginization
- pidginise
- pidginize
- pidginist
- pidginogenic
- Pijin
- Port Jackson Pidgin
- prepidgin
- Queensland Pidgin English
- Tok Pisin
- West African Pidgin Portuguese
Phrases with pidgin
Words that rhyme with pidgin
Questions about pidgin
- What does pidgin mean?
- Pidgin means an amalgamation of two disparate languages, used by two populations having no common language as a lingua franca to communicate with each other, lacking formalized grammar and having a small, utilitarian vocabulary and no native speakers. The speech is slow and supported by mime and gesture.
- What is pidgin in Tamil?
- Pidgin in Tamil is பிட்யின் (piṭyiṉ). See Pidgin meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is pidgin?
- Pidgin is a noun.
- How do you pronounce pidgin?
- Pidgin is pronounced /ˈpɪ.d͡ʒɪn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of pidgin?
- The plural of pidgin is pidgins.
Words near pidgin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pidgin (page history and authors); pidgin (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pidgin.wav.
Cite this entry: “pidgin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pidgin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.