What is the difference between pidgin and creole language?

A pidgin is “ a language with a reduced range of structure and use, with NO native speakers.” It grows up among people who do not share a common language but who want to communicate with each other.

A creole is “a pidgin which has become the mother tongue of a community,” and therefore has native speakers.

(Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language).

Pidgin was originally called 'business English', ie just enough to do business with each other, and the word ended up as pidgin instead of business as often happens over time.

Well, first of all, pidgin sounds like a bird while creole sounds like some sort of spicy food. Also, pidgin doesn't exist. It's imaginary. You're so silly, Author. =) You make me warm and fuzzy inside because you make me giggle. Actually, it does exist. Tabby Tom is wrong. I WAS THE ORGINATOR OF PIDGIN. I speak it among my native people. Oh, and to Satguru, business is all about pidgins. Trust me, I should know. Do you know why? I'm a business MAJOR. I speak fluent pidgin, screw creole.

Jemikins... I don't what you're talking about... but I agree with Tabby and satguru

A pidgin, or contact language, is the name given to any language created, usually spontaneously, out of a mixture of other languages as a means of communication between speakers of different tongues. Pidgins have simple grammars and few synonyms, serving as auxiliary contact languages. They are learned as second languages rather than natively.

A creole language, or just creole, is a well-defined and stable language that originated from a non-trivial combination of two or more languages, typically with many distinctive features that are not inherited from either parent. All creole languages evolved from pidgins, usually those that have become the native language of a community.


I teach high school in South Florida where are there many Haitian students... So I hear Haitian Creole spoken every day! It's an interesting mixture of French and West African languages.

Jamaican creole is mixed with English and African.
For example instead of saying me we say mi. This sentence is written in Jamican creole:
Unu cya lissen to we mia say!
english is:
Cant you listen to what i'm saying!

Jamaican creole is mixed with English and West African.
For example instead of saying me we say mi. This sentence is written in Jamican creole:
Unu cya lissen to we mia say!
english is:
Cant you listen to what i'm saying!