Argot

//ˈɑɹɡoʊ// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A secret language or conventional slang peculiar to thieves, tramps and vagabonds.

    "Sadie had, in the argot of the day, a really good built."

  2. 2
    An inhabitant or resident of Argos.
  3. 3
    a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves) wordnet
  4. 4
    The specialized informal vocabulary and terminology used between people with special skill in a field, such as between doctors, mathematicians or hackers.

    "The conversation was in the argot of the trade, full of acronyms and abbreviations that made no sense to the uninitiate."

  5. 5
    A strongly marked style of speaking.

    "Merle spoke in the thin nasal argot of this city's slums: "This the fus toim yez been lobbed, oy, kiddow?""

Synonyms

All synonyms
cantjargoncantjargonslangslang

Example

More examples

"An argot strengthens the identity of a social group."

Etymology

Borrowed from French argot, of unknown origin.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.