pidgin
pid·gin
noun
an artificial language used for trade between speakers of different languages
Origin
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”)
Phrases
- Chinese pidgin English
- expanded pidgin
- Melanesian Pidgin English
- New South Wales Pidgin English
- NSW Pidgin English
- Port Jackson Pidgin
- Queensland Pidgin English
- Tok Pisin
Related words
Broader terms
Narrower terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.