A particular form of a language spoken in a specific region or by a specific group.
From Greek 'dialektos' meaning 'conversation' or 'way of speaking,' built from 'dia' (between) and 'legein' (to speak). Originally, it simply meant any conversation between people, not a regional variation. Ancient Greeks used it to describe how different city-states like Athens and Sparta had their own ways of talking, but saw these as equally valid forms of Greek.
The ancient Greeks invented the word 'dialect' simply to mean 'the way people talk to each other,' without any judgment about right or wrong. It's only in modern times that we started ranking dialects as 'standard' versus 'nonstandard,' something that would have puzzled the word's creators.
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