pidgin

English

Etymology

From pidgin English, from a Chinese Pidgin English pronunciation of English business during trade in the Far East. Other suggested derivations include:

Hebrew פִּדְיוֹן‎ (pidyón, “exchange; trade; redemption”)^[1]
Chinese pronunciation of Portuguese ocupação (“occupation; business”)^[1]
South Seas pronunciation of beach^[1]
Portuguese baixo (“low”)^[1]

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪdʒɪn/
(US) enPR: pĭjʹən, IPA^(key): /ˈpɪdʒən/
Rhymes: -ɪdʒən, -ɪdʒɪn
Homophone: pigeon

Noun

pidgin (countable and uncountable, plural pidgins)

(linguistics) 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.
Synonym: baragouin

Usage notes

Some pidgins that have developed into creoles nevertheless (confusingly) retain the word "pidgin" in their names.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

amalgamation of two languages having no native speakers

Armenian: փիջին (pʿiǰin)
Bislama: pijin
Chinese:
Mandarin: 皮欽語 (zh), 皮钦语 (zh) (píqīnyǔ), 混雜語言, 混杂语言 (hùnzá yǔyán)
Danish: pidgin (da) n, pidginsprog n
Esperanto: piĝino
French: pidgin (fr) m, créole (fr) m, langue véhiculaire (fr) f
German: Pidgin (de) n, Pidginsprache (de) f, Pidgin-Sprache (de) f
Italian: pidgin
Japanese: ピジン言語 (pijin gengo)
Low German:
German Low German: Pidgin n, Pidginspraak f, Pidgin-Spraak f
Macedonian: пиџин m (pídžin)

Maori: kōrapurapu, reo kōrapurapu
Norwegian:
Bokmål: pidgin m, n, pidginspråk n

Nynorsk: pidgin m, pidginspråk n
Pijin: pijin
Polish: pidżyn m, język pidżynowy m
Portuguese: pidgin (pt) m
Russian: пи́джин (ru) m (pídžin)
Spanish: pidgin m
Swahili: pijini
Swedish: pidgin c, pidginspråk (sv) n
Tok Pisin: pisin (tpi)

See also

References

1 2 3 4 John Holmes, An introduction to pidgins and creoles, Cambridge University Press (2000)

Further reading

Pidgin English - English Dictionary: from Webster's Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition.

Portuguese

Noun

pidgin m (plural pidgins)

(linguistics) pidgin (amalgamation of two languages having no native speakers)

Spanish

Noun

pidgin m (plural pidgins or pidgin)

pidgin (amalgamation of two languages having no native speakers)

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.