Noun patois has 2 senses
  1. cant, jargon, slang, lingo, argot, patois, vernacular - a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves); "they don't speak our lingo"
    --1 is a kind of non-standard speech
    --1 has particulars: street name; rhyming slang
  2. patois - a regional dialect of a language (especially French); usually considered substandard
    --2 is a kind of
    dialect, idiom, accent
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