colloquialism

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm

Proto-Italic *kom

Proto-Italic *kom-

Latin con-

Latin loquor

Latin colloquor

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

Latin -ium

Latin colloquiumder.

Middle English colloquies

English colloquy

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālisbor.

Old French -albor.

▲

Latin -ālis

Old French -elbor.

▲

Latin -ālisbor.

Middle English -al

English -al

English colloquial

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mos

Proto-Indo-European *-mós

Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)

Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der.

English -ism

English colloquialism

From colloquial + -ism.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kəˈləʊ.kwi.əˌlɪz.əm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kəˈloʊ.kwi.əˌlɪz.əm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

colloquialism (countable and uncountable, plural colloquialisms)

1. (linguistics) A colloquial word or phrase; a common spoken expression.
   • 2024 June 20, Eva Corlett, “Fidlets, fingies and riding a doo: study sheds light on Antarctic English slang”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Before embarking on her trip, Kaefer expected to find a pan-Antarctic vocabulary, but quickly discovered there were distinct colloquialisms within each station.

2. (linguistics) A colloquial manner of speaking.
   • 1996, James Lambert, The Macquarie Book of Slang, Sydney: Macquarie Library, page v:

     The differences between slang, colloquialism and jargon are not clear-cut.

Related terms

• colloquy

Translations

colloquial expression — see also vulgarism

• Arabic: عَامِّيَّة f (ʕāmmiyya), (Western Arabic states) دَارِجَة f (dārija)
• Bulgarian: разговорен израз m (razgovoren izraz)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 口語 / 口语 (zh) (kǒuyǔ), 俗語 / 俗语 (zh) (súyǔ), 白話 / 白话 (zh) (báihuà)

• Finnish: puhekielen ilmaus, puhekielinen ilmaus
• French: expression familière f
• Georgian: კოლოკვიალიზმი (ḳoloḳvializmi), სასაუბრო სიტყვა (sasaubro siṭq̇va), სასაუბრო გამონათქვამი (sasaubro gamonatkvami), სალაპარაკო გამონათქვამი (salaṗaraḳo gamonatkvami)
• German: Umgangssprachausdruck m
• Greek: κοινολεξία f (koinolexía)
• Japanese: 口語表現 (こうごひょうげん, kōgo hyōgen), 俗語 (ja) (ぞくご, zokugo), 口語 (ja) (こうご, kōgo)
• Korean: 구어(口語) (ko) (gueo), 속어(俗語) (ko) (sogeo)
• Latvian: vienkāršruna f, sarunvalodas izteiciens m, sarunvalodas vārds m
• Māori: kīwaha
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hverdagsuttrykk

  Nynorsk: kvardagsuttrykk

• Polish: kolokwializm (pl) m, potocyzm (pl) m, wyrażenie potoczne n
• Portuguese: coloquialismo (pt) m
• Russian: просторе́чие (ru) n (prostoréčije), разгово́рное выраже́ние n (razgovórnoje vyražénije)
• Spanish: coloquialismo m
• Swedish: slang (sv), talspråk (sv)
• Tagalog: pansalitaan

colloquial style of speaking

• Bulgarian: разговорен език m (razgovoren ezik), разговорна реч f (razgovorna reč)
• German: Gemeinsprache (de) f, Umgangssprache (de) f, Alltagssprache (de) f, volkstümlicher Sprachgebrauch m
• Polish: język potoczny m, mowa potoczna f, język obiegowy m, język pospolity m, język swobodny m, język powszechny m
• Tagalog: kolokyal

See also

• argot
• cant
• jargon
• slang
• vernacular