Polari

//pəˈlɑːri// name, verb

name, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To speak or talk, particularly in slang or cant. Polari, ambitransitive

    "Will you take a varder at the cartz on the feely-omi in the naf strides: the one with the bona blue ogles polarying the omi-palone with a vogue on and a cod sheitel."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A cant used in the London fishmarkets, in the British theatre, and by the gay community in Britain, attested since at least the 19th century and popularised in the 1950s and 1960s by the camp characters Julian and Sandy in the popular BBC radio show Round the Horne.
  2. 2
    A cant used by travelling showmen in Britain.

Example

More examples

"Gay people in Britain used to speak a cant called Polari."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Polari, from Italian parlare (“to talk”). The loss of the first r and the changing vowel quality of the non-stressed vowels is due to the non-rhotic UK accent which reinterpreted the phonemes. The adoption of the infinitive form means that the word probably originated from a Romance-based creole or pidgin like Sabir. First use in English appears c. 1846, in the writings of Lord Chief Baron.

Etymology 2

From Italian parlare (“to talk”). See Polari for more.

More for "polari"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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