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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
Examples of pidgin in a Sentence
Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 21 Nov. 2023
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
Ijaw, pidgin and Yoruba in addition to English.
—Yomi Kazeem, Quartz Africa, 9 Dec. 2020
The language is a high-modernist juxtaposition of street urchin pidgin, Yiddish English and finely observed free indirect discourse — New York’s voice is plural.
—New York Times, 30 June 2022
ClayRocksU excels at something similar, fusing Igbo language and local pidgin folk elements with punk rock.
—Ama Udofa, Rolling Stone, 19 June 2022
With the song — a feel-good tune sung in Nigerian pidgin and blending punk rock, Afrobeats, and folk — Okorocha and Co. are also attempting to challenge the negative stereotypes attached to rock music in this part of the world.
—Ama Udofa, Rolling Stone, 19 June 2022
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
Ed Sheeran takes over the second verse with lyrics peppered with upbeat pidgin and interlaced with words from Yoruba which forms the lyrics of the original song.
—Nelson C.j., Rolling Stone, 27 Dec. 2021
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Dictionary Entries Near pidgin
Cite this Entry
“Pidgin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pidgin. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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pidgin
noun
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