Skip to content

The word for today is…

argot (noun):

: the language used by a particular type or group of people : an often more or less secret vocabulary and idiom peculiar to a particular group

Source : Merriam -Webster

Etymology : We borrowed argot from French in the early 1800s, although our language already had several words covering its meaning. There was jargon, the Anglo-French ancestor of which meant "twittering of birds"; it had been used for specialised (and often obscure or pretentious) vocabulary since the 1600s. There was also lingo, from the Latin word lingua, meaning "language"; that term had been in use for more than a century. English novelist and lawyer Henry Fielding used it of "court gibberish"—what we tend to call legalese. And speaking of legalese, the suffix -ese is a newer means of indicating arcane vocabulary. One of its very first applications at the turn of the 20th century was for "American 'golfese.'"

If you enjoyed this Good Oil word of the day please consider sharing it with your friends and, especially, your children.

Latest