dialect

Meaning

Noun

• A variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular area, community or social group, differing from other varieties of the same language in relatively minor ways as regards grammar, phonology, and lexicon.
• Language that is perceived as substandard or wrong.
• A language existing only in an oral or non-standardized form, especially a language spoken in a developing country or an isolated region.
• A lect (often a regional or minority language) as part of a group or family of languages, especially if they are viewed as a single language, or if contrasted with a standardized idiom that is considered the 'true' form of the language (for example, Cantonese as contrasted with Mandarin Chinese, or Bavarian as contrasted with Standard German).
• A variant of a non-standardized programming language.
• A variant form of the vocalizations of a bird species restricted to a certain area or population.

Origin

• From Middle French dialecte, from Latin dialectos, dialectus, from Ancient Greek διάλεκτος ("conversation, the language of a country or a place or a nation, the local idiom which derives from a dominant language"), from διαλέγομαι, from διά + λέγω.