dialect
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dialect
- /ˈdaɪ.əˌlɛkt/ Canada, US, UK
- /ˈdɑe.əˌlekt/ Australia
- [ˈdɑe̯.əˌlekt] New Zealand
Where it comes from
From Middle French dialecte, from Latin dialectos, dialectus, from Ancient Greek διάλεκτος (diálektos, “conversation, the language of a country or a place or a nation, the local idiom which derives from a dominant language”), from διαλέγομαι (dialégomai, “to participate in a dialogue”), from διά (diá, “inter, through”) + λέγω (légō, “to speak”); by surface analysis, dia- + -lect.
noun dialects
-
A lect (often a regional or minority language) as part of a group or family of languages, especially if they are viewed as a single language, or if contrasted with a standardized idiom that is considered the 'true' form of the language (for example, Bavarian as contrasted with Standard German).
The question could be put: 'Is there anything inherent in a dialect which gives it a negative stigma or is it that the status of the majority of the speakers is transferred to the dialect?' — something that occurs in many regions in different countries.
Similar: patois
- A variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular area, community, or social group, differing from other varieties of the same language in relatively minor ways as regards grammar, phonology, and lexicon. And in addition, many dialects of English make no morphological distinction between Adjectives and Adverbs, and thus use Adjectives in contexts where the standard language requires -ly Adverbs
- Language that is perceived as substandard or wrong. Well, those children don't speak dialect, not in this school. Maybe in the public schools, but not here.
-
A language existing only in an oral or non-standardized form, especially a language spoken in a developing country or an isolated region.
Similar: vernacular
- A variant of a non-standardized programming language. Home computers in the 1980s had many incompatible dialects of BASIC.
- A variant form of the vocalizations of a bird species restricted to a certain area or population. A curious question, which has as yet attracted but little attention, is whether the notes of the same species of Bird are in all countries alike. From my own observation I am inclined to think that they are not, and that there exist "dialects," so to speak, of the song.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: accent, idiom, language, lingo, speech, jargon, rhetoric, variant, remark, tone, tough, argot, tongue, patois, vernacular, colloquialism
Translations
Every language
noun particular variety of a language
| Español | dialecto |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 방언 bang'eon, 사투리 saturi |
| 日本語 | 方言 hōgen, -弁 -ben |
| 中文 | 方言 fāngyán, 地方話 /地方话 dìfānghuà, 話 /话 huà, 土話 /土话 tǔhuà |
| हिन्दी | उपभाषा upbhāṣā, बोली bolī |
| Kiswahili | lahaja |
| Português | dialeto, dialecto |
| Français | dialecte, patois |
| Deutsch | Dialekt, Mundart |
| Italiano | dialetto |
| Ελληνικά | διάλεκτος diálektos |
| Română | dialect |
| Русский | диале́кт dialékt, наре́чие naréčije, го́вор góvor |
| Tiếng Việt | thổ ngữ, phương ngữ, phương ngôn |
| العربية | لَهْجَة lahja |
| עברית | נִיב niv, לַהַג láhag, עָגָה agá |
Talk about this word "dialect." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dialect. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. dialect. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dialect "dialect." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dialect.Cite this
@misc{dialect_2026,
title = {dialect},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dialect},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
