pidgin

noun

pid·​gin ˈpi-jən How to pronounce pidgin (audio)
: a simplified speech used for communication between people with different languages
pidginization noun
pidginize transitive verb

Did you know?

The History of Pidgin

The history of pidgin begins in the early 19th century in the South China city of Guangzhou. Chinese merchants interacting with English speakers on the docks in this port adopted and modified the word business in a way that, by century's end, had become pidgin. The word itself then became the descriptor of the unique communication used by people who speak different languages. Pidgins generally consist of small vocabularies (Chinese Pidgin English has only 700 words), but some have grown to become a group's native language. Examples include Sea Island Creole (spoken in South Carolina's Sea Islands), Haitian Creole, and Louisiana Creole. The word pidgin also gave us one particular meaning of pigeon—the one defined as "an object of special concern" or "accepted business or interest," as in "Tennis is not my pigeon."

Examples of pidgin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Ambitious and ultra-local, with pummeling percussion and fierce taunts in Nigerian pidgin, the album Rema was nominated for — last year’s Heis — boldly honored his roots and commanded respect. Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2025 Eventually, my family became adept at speaking a pidgin of English, Korean, and Japanese. Victoria Song, The Verge, 18 Apr. 2024 The dialogue in both sections, sprinkled like parsley with pidgin Yiddish and Hebrew prayer, has a secondhand aura that is also unconvincing. Jesse Green, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2023 But Amazon expects this person to be well connected with the Nigerian film industry, already boasting relationships with top creators, fluency in Nigerian pidgin and one or more indigenous languages. Alexander Onukwue, Quartz, 11 Apr. 2022 See All Example Sentences for pidgin

Word History

Etymology

pidgin English

First Known Use

1869, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of pidgin was in 1869

Browse Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Pidgin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pidgin. Accessed 6 Sep. 2025.

Kids Definition

pidgin

noun
pid·​gin ˈpij-ən How to pronounce pidgin (audio)
: a simplified speech used for communication by people who speak different languages

More from Merriam-Webster on pidgin

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!