jargon

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɑː.ɡən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɑɹ.ɡən/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)ɡən
• Hyphenation: jar‧gon

Etymology 1

From Middle English jargoun, jargon, from Old French jargon, a variant of gargon, gargun (“chatter; talk; language”).

Noun

jargon (countable and uncountable, plural jargons)

1. (uncountable) A technical terminology unique to a particular subject.
2. (countable) A language characteristic of a particular group.
   • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 11:

     They [the Normans] abandoned their native speech, and adopted the French tongue, in which Latin was the predominant element. They speedily raised their new language to a dignity and importance which it had never before possessed. They found it a barbarous jargon; they fixed it in writing; and they employed it in legislation, in poetry, and in romance.

   • 2014, Ian Hodder, Archaeological Theory Today:

     In fact all the competing theories have developed their own specialized jargons and have a tendency to be difficult to penetrate.

3. (uncountable) Speech or language that is incomprehensible or unintelligible; gibberish.

Synonyms

• (language characteristic of a group): argot, cant, intalk
• vernacular

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

jargon (third-person singular simple present jargons, present participle jargoning, simple past and past participle jargoned)

1. To utter jargon; to emit confused or unintelligible sounds.
   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Fatherland in Danger”, in The French Revolution: A History , volume III (The Guillotine), London: James Fraser, , →OCLC, book III (The Girondins), page 184:

     Prussian Trenck, the poor subterranean Baron, jargons and jangles in an unmelodious manner.

   • 1863 November 23, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Poet’s Tale. The Birds of Killingworth.”, in Tales of a Wayside Inn, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 195:

     [T]he noisy jay, / Jargoning like a foreigner at his food; […]

Etymology 2

Noun

jargon (countable and uncountable, plural jargons)

1. Alternative form of jargoon (“A variety of zircon”)

Further reading

• Jargon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Jargon in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• "jargon" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 174.

Dutch

Etymology

From Old French jargon (“chatter, talk, language”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɑrˈɣɔn/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: jar‧gon

Noun

jargon n (plural jargons, diminutive jargonnetje n)

1. jargon, specialised language

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from French jargon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɑrɡon/,
• Rhymes: -ɑrɡon
• Syllabification^(key): jar‧gon

Noun

jargon

1. jargon

Declension

Further reading

• “jargon”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒaʁ.ɡɔ̃/

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French jargon, gargun ("cheeping of birds"), from a root *garg expressing the sound of the throat or referring to it. See gargouille, gargariser, gargoter.
The initial /ʒ/ sound comes from a softening of /g/, as in jambe.

Noun

jargon m (plural jargons)

2. jargon, specialised or unintelligible language

Derived terms

• jargonner
• jargonnesque

Descendants

• → Czech: žargon
• → Dutch: jargon
• → English: jargon
• → Esperanto: ĵargono
• → German: Jargon
• → Hungarian: zsargon
• → Macedonian: жаргон (žargon)
• → Polish: żargon
• → Portuguese: jargão
• → Romanian: jargon n
• → Russian: жарго́н m (žargón)
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: жа̀рго̄н

  Latin script: žàrgōn

• → Spanish: jerga
• → Swedish: jargong
• → Turkish: jargon

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian giargone. Doublet of zircon.

Noun

jargon m (plural jargons)

2. jargon, a zircon type

Descendants

• → Catalan: jargó
• → English: jargoon
• → German: Jargon
• → Greek: γιαρκόν (giarkón)
• → Russian: жарго́н (žargón)
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: жаргон

  Latin script: žargon, jargon

• → Spanish: jergón

Further reading

• “jargon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Middle English

Noun

jargon

1. Alternative form of jargoun.

Old French

Etymology

Probably of imitative origin, similar to Latin garrio (“I chatter”).

Noun

jargon oblique singular, m (oblique plural jargons, nominative singular jargons, nominative plural jargon)

1. talk; chatter; conversation; talking

Descendants

• French: jargon
  • → Czech: žargon
  • → Dutch: jargon
  • → English: jargon
  • → Esperanto: ĵargono
  • → German: Jargon
  • → Hungarian: zsargon
  • → Macedonian: жаргон (žargon)
  • → Polish: żargon
  • → Portuguese: jargão
  • → Romanian: jargon n
  • → Russian: жарго́н m (žargón)
  • → Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: жа̀рго̄н

    Latin script: žàrgōn

  • → Spanish: jerga
  • → Swedish: jargong
  • → Turkish: jargon

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “jargon”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French jargon.

Noun

jargon n (plural jargoane)

1. jargon, slang

Declension

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from French jargon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒɑɾˈɡon/,

Noun

jargon (definite accusative jargonu, plural jargonlar)

1. jargon

Synonyms

• argo

Volapük

Noun

jargon

1. gibberish
2. A jargon, specialised language