patois

[F.; ‘origin unknown’ (Hatz.-Darm.), see conjectures in Diez and Littré.]

a. Properly, a dialect (esp. in France or French Switzerland) spoken by the common people in a particular district, and differing materially from the literary language. In England, sometimes used loosely as a contemptuous designation for a provincial dialect or form of speech.
French scholars distinguish dialects as the particular forms presented by a language in different regions, so long as there does not exist a common written language. When a common language has become established as the medium of general literature, the dialects lose their literary standing and become patois.
1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §8 The Jargon and Patois of severall Provinces. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France, etc. I. 314 At Venice, the sweetness of the patois is irresistible. 1832 tr. Sismondi's Ital. Rep. iii. 65 The Italian language, spoken at his court, first rose above the patois in common use throughout Italy. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xx. 142 Their language was a Spanish patois. 1893 F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 7 The Dutch patois spoken in South Africa.

b. transf.
1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 197 Their language is in the patois of fraud. 1880 Standard 10 Dec., A fashion+of introducing children in novels who talk an impossible gibberish utterly unlike real baby patois.

c. The folk or Creole speech of the English-speaking Caribbean (esp. Jamaica).
1934 J. Rhys Voy. in Dark i. vi. 83 She said something in patois and went on washing up. 1953 Caribbean Q. III. i. 24 The hybrid dialects of French origin which in philology come under the heading Creole. In Trinidad the word used to denote these dialects is Patois. 1970 Caribbean Stud. July 108 Patois, used by many Jamaicans in reference to Jamaican Creole. 1971 Caribbean Q. XVII. ii. 13 Same name, different referent+patois.

d. attrib. or as adj. Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a patois or illiterate dialect.
1789 C. Smith Ethelinde (1814) III. 138 ‘Alas’ cried she, in a patois dialect, between French and Spanish. 1799 H. More Fem. Educ. (ed. 4) I. 103 To ascertain that she has nothing patois in her dialect. 1809–12 M. Edgeworth Mme. de Fleury x, She+remembered his patois accent. a1894 M. Dyan All in a Man's K. (1899) 90 His powers of conversation in patois Pushtoo.


OED2

Strangely, I had picked it up to be almost synonymous with a creole but would not have drawn the clear distinction with literary norms.