patois
pat·ois/pæˈtwɑ/noun
patois is spelled P-A-T-O-I-S: 6 letters and 2 syllables (pat·ois). It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 62,894th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, patois means “A regional dialect (usually one considered nonstandard) of a language (especially French)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in patois?
| Letters | 6: P-A-T-O-I-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: pat·ois |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 62,894th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is patois?
Patois appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 62,894th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce patois?
- US /pæˈtwɑ/
- UK /ˈpæ.twɑː/
- US /pæˈtwɑz/
Patois has 2 syllables, split pat·ois in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-patois.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with patois?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as patois from its last stressed vowel (/ɑ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
What does patois mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A regional dialect (usually one considered nonstandard) of a language (especially French).
- 2
Any of various French, Franco-Provençal or Occitan dialects spoken in France.
- 3
Creole French in the Caribbean (especially in Dominica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti).
- 4
Ellipsis of Jamaican Patois.
- 5
Jargon or cant.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Patois in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense regional dialect of a language:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does patois come from?
Borrowed from French patois (“regional dialect or language”), c. 1635.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).