cryptolect

English

WOTD – 16 October 2024

Etymology

From crypto- (prefix ‘hidden; secret’) +‎ -lect (suffix denoting a language variety).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɪptə(ʊ)lɛkt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: krĭpʹtəlĕk(t)', IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɪptəˌlɛk(t)/
• Hyphenation: cryp‧to‧lect

Noun

cryptolect (plural cryptolects)

1. (linguistics) A secretive language form used by a subculture; an arcane cant. [from 1980s]

   Coordinate terms: antilanguage, argot, intalk, jargon, lingo; see also Thesaurus:cryptolect

   Cockney rhyming slang developed originally from the cryptolects of London’s thieves and vagabonds.

Derived terms

• cryptolectal

Translations

secretive language form used by a subculture — see also cant

• Armenian: ծածկալեզու (hy) (cackalezu)
• Catalan: criptolecte (ca) m
• Dutch: geheimtaal (nl) f
• Esperanto: kriptolekto, kaŝlingvo, sekreta lingvo
• Finnish: salakieli (fi)
• French: cryptolecte (fr) m
• Galician: please add this translation if you can
• German: Geheimsprache (de) f
• Hebrew: שפת סתרים ?
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: 符牒 (ja) (ふちょう, fuchō)
• Korean: 변말 (byeonmal)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kryptolekt ?, skjulespråk ?

  Nynorsk: løyndespråk ?, løynspråk ?

• Persian: زبان رمزی
• Portuguese: criptoleto m, argot m, língua secreta f
• Romanian: limbaj secret n
• Russian: арго́ (ru) n (argó)
• Slovene: latovščina ?
• Swedish: kodspråk n
• Ukrainian: криптолектом ? (kryptolektom), арго (uk) ? (arho), кант ? (kant)
• West Frisian: kryptolekt ?, argot ?, geheimtaal ?

See also

• Thesaurus:language

Further reading

• cant (language) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia