Peters noted: ‘Pidgeon, is the common Chinese pronunciation of business’ ( OED). Hall wrote: ‘I afterwards learned that “pigeon”, in the strange jargon spoken at Canton by way of English, means business’ in 1845, J. This was a TRADE JARGON used from the 17c onward between the British and Chinese in such ports as Canton.
Etymologically, there appears to have been only one pidgin: Pidgin English, also known as Business English, Pidgin-English, pidgin-English, Pigeon English, Pigeon-English, bigeon, pidgeon, pidjin, pidjun. Because the word has often been used and discussed pejoratively, it carries such connotations as ‘childish’, ‘corrupt’, ‘lazy’, ‘inferior’, ‘oversimplified’, and ‘simple-minded’.
The general sense As generally understood, a pidgin is a hybrid ‘makeshift language’ used by and among traders, on plantations (especially with and among slaves of various backgrounds), and between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of Asia, Africa, and the Americas, especially during the heyday of European expansion (17–20c).
PIDGIN A term used in both a general and a technical sense for a CONTACT LANGUAGE which draws on elements from two or more languages: pidgin Portuguese a Spanish pidgin.
