COLLOQUIAL
What It Means
Colloquial is used with words like term and word and expression to describe language that is used in familiar and informal conversation.
// The author can switch from formal academic language to a charmingly colloquial style, depending on the audience and subject of her writing.
Colloquial in Context
“The American woodcock is a native North American bird species found in Wisconsin and much of the eastern United States and Canada. Known by a host of colloquial names, including timberdoodle, … bogsucker and mudsnipe, the species is about the size of the American robin …” — Paul A. Smith, The Green Bay (Wisconsin) Press-Gazette , 1 May 2026
Did You Know?
The noun colloquy has since the 15th century referred to a conversation or dialogue, and when the adjective colloquial was formed in the mid-18th century it had a similar focus. (Both words trace back to the Latin verb colloquī, meaning “to converse.”) Over time, however, colloquial developed a more specific meaning related to language that is most suited to informal conversation, and it ultimately garnered a secondary use for language that is so informal as to be inappropriate for a given situation. For instance, when writing an academic paper about Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, it would not serve to say that the crew of the Endurance was “in quite a pickle” when they became trapped in ice off the Caird coast. Although pickle does indeed mean “a difficult situation” in this context, its flavor—ahem—may be considered too colloquial, that is, “unacceptably informal,” for academic use.
Merriam Webster Dictionary
