pidgin

English

Etymology

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”)

Pronunciation

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

Noun

pidgin (countable and uncountable, plural pidgins)

1. (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

• West African Pidgin Portuguese
• pidginisation
• pidginise
• pidginization
• pidginize

Related terms

• pidgin English
• Pijin
• Tok Pisin

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 (pidžin)

• Maori: kōrapurapu, reo kōrapurapu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pidgin m or n, pidginspråk n

  Nynorsk: pidgin m, pidginspråk n

• Pijin: pijin
• Polish: pidżyn (pl) m, język pidżynowy (pl) 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

• creole
• Creole

Further reading

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

---

Portuguese

Noun

pidgin m (plural pidgins)

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

---

Spanish

Noun

pidgin m (plural pidgins or pidgin)

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