: a slang lexicon used mostly among gay men and lesbians in Britain
Note: Polari has its roots in the argot of theatrical and circus performers.
Polari flourished in the difficult years between the trial of Oscar Wilde and the 1967 Sexual Offences Act. It was a kind of code, which enabled one gay man to identify another, allowed them to express themselves publicly without fear of arrest or reprisal and provided a vocabulary for talking about gay sex and sexuality.—Colin Richardson
Polari made a game out of words, borrowing and twisting the grammars of the margins—Italian slang, Romani, cockney, Yiddish, and circus-speak …—Mike Dressel
Some speakers were so adept at talking in Polari that it sometimes resembled a language rather than a vocabulary.—Paul Baker
Polari's ghost lingers in queer slang today. Words like camp, butch … and drag—now globalised terms within LGBTQ+ lexicons—carry traces of Polari's syntax and sensibility.—Sasha Brandt
Cite this Entry
“Polari.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Polari. Accessed 1 Aug. 2026.
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