patois

\pa.twa\

/\pa.twa\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“patois” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #20,230. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#20,230
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dialecte parlé dans une contrée réduite.

Corpus desk

Index FR-patois · patois · French

patois · rank #20,230 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #20,230
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH patiemment

Nearest frequency peer: patiemment (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « patois »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « patois » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

patois vs pois
67% similar
patois vs Patti
50% similar
patois vs pattes
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for patois
PropertyValue
Headwordpatois
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pa.twa\
Letters6
Frequency rank#20,230
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « patois »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).patoisse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « patiemment » (#20,229), « pepe » (#20,231), « paternelle » (#20,228). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « patois » est au #20,230. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around patois (IPA \pa.twa\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #20,230 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for patois, with forms such as "aptois", "paotis", and "patios". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pois", "Patti", "pattes", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is patois, spelled P-A-T-O-I-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dialecte parlé dans une contrée réduite.
  2. 2
    Mode d'expression propre à un groupe de personnes.
  3. 3
    Langage pauvre et rustique ; jargon incompréhensible.
  4. 4
    Mauvais style.
  5. 5
    Langue régionale.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how patois appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Les patois sont les derniers débris des innombrables dialectes qui constituaient la langue parlée dans l'ancienne France. C'est par ces restes, tout informes et défigurés qu'ils soient, que l'on peut acquérir encore une certaine connaissance des intonations et de l'accent qui caractérisaient ce vieux et pittoresque langage.
  2. Avez-vous entendu les gémissements continuels de ce maudit enfant et les bavardages de cette malheureuse femme qui parle sans doute en patois ? car je n'ai pas compris un seul mot de ce qu'elle disait.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • aptois
  • paotis
  • patios
  • patoiss
  • patosi
  • pattois
  • ppatois
  • ptaois

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of patois - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

aptois2paotis2patios2patoiss1patosi2pattois1ppatois1ptaois2
Edit distance from "patois"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "patois"?
"patois" is spelled P-A-T-O-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is \pa.twa\.
What does "patois" mean?
As a noun, "patois" means: Dialecte parlé dans une contrée réduite.
What words are commonly confused with "patois"?
"patois" is commonly confused with "pois", "Patti", "pattes". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "patois"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "patois" is \pa.twa\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "patois" come from?
"patois" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "patois", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pierce#20,235pioche#20,236onglet#20,219potion#20,243

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

noyade8 variantsNevada8 variantsnausée8 variantsnageur8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list