Pronounced: puh-LOO-suhd, adj
Notes: You may know part of the word
Yesterday’s word
The word basilect means “the least prestigious variety of a language”
First usage
Our word came into English in the 1960s
Background / Comments
Our word came from the Latin words basis and dialectus (dialect). In discussing dialects, my reference data tried to insist that no dialect is “proper” based solely on grammar, but on social status. I don’t want to get into the discussion, but I thought the discussion I read was rather simplistic.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 