Argot definition and examples from the book, 601 Words You Need to Know to Pass Your Exam used in real context for GRE & SAT candidates. Practice listening and reading comprehension with the word, argot.
/ˈɑː.gəʊ/ (noun)
Table of Contents
Argot definition
a particular style of language, speech, words or expressions used by a small group of people, which is not vividly understood by other people, jargon, lingo, parlance, dialect, vernacular, slang, cant, patois, idiomatic expression
Example
Argot is a specialized vocabulary or set of idioms used by a particular social class or group, especially one that functions outside the law. Also called cant and cryptolect.
French novelist Victor Hugo observed that “argot is subject to perpetual transformation—a secret and rapid work which ever goes on. It makes more progress in ten years than the regular language in ten centuries” (Les Misérables, 1862).
ESL specialist Sara Fuchs notes that argot is “both cryptic and playful in nature and it is . . . particularly rich in vocabulary referring to drugs, crime, sexuality, money, the police, and other authority figures” (“Verlan, l’envers,” 2015).
Source of example: https://www.thoughtco.com/
Parts of speech
Adjective: argotic
