Brewer's: Pigeon-English

or Pigeon-talk. A corruption of business-talk. Thus: business, bidginess, bidgin, pidgin, pigeon. A mixture of English, Portuguese, and Chinese, used in business transactions in “The Flowery Empire.”

“The traders care nothing for the Chinese language, and are content to carry on their business transactions in a hideous jargon called ‘pigeon English.’” —The Times.

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