English
creole
Creole comes from French créole, and goes back to Portuguese crioulo.
- Portuguesec. 1500–presentcrioulo
- Spanishc. 1500–presentcriollo
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcréole
- Englishearliest quotation 1818creole
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Portuguesec. 1500–presentcrioulo
- Spanishc. 1500–presentcriollo
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcréole
- Englishearliest quotation 1818creole
Earliest quotation: 1818, The Methodist Magazine: “There are three orders of people: those who were…”
The story
Attested in English to refer to language from the 18th century.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- ‘to grow, become bigger’
increase, increasing, crew, decrease, cereal, crescent, croissant, increment, excrement, accretion, cru, kore, 26 more
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱreh₁-eh₂yé-ti
through Latin creō ‘to create, to give existence to, to form, to…’
create, creative, creation, creator, creature, creat, 13 more
Today it means
noun A language formed from two or more languages which has developed from a pidgin to become a first language.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Portuguese crioulo / creole