For Wikipedia jargon see Wikipedia:Glossary. For the gemstone see Jargoon.

Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity profession group or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he continued "It seems that one ought to begin by composing this language but people begin by speaking and writing and the language remains to be composed."1

In other words the term covers the language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a common interest. Much like slang2 it can develop as a kind of short-hand to express ideas that are frequently discussed between members of a group though it can also be developed deliberately using chosen terms. A standard term may be given a more precise or unique usage among practitioners of a field. In many cases this causes a barrier to communication with those not familiar with the language of the field. As an example the words RAM bit byte CPU and hexadecimal are jargon terms related to computing.2

See also Argot Colloquialism Corporate jargon Critical vocabulary Jargon File P convention Padonkaffsky jargon Pidgin Polari Sublanguage Workplace jargon Notes Quoted by Fernand Braudel in discussing the origins of capital capitalism in The Wheels of Commerce vol. II of Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century 1979:234. a b Lundin Leigh (2009-12-31). "Buzzwords bang * splat !". Don Martin School of Software. Criminal Brief. http://www.criminalbrief.com/p10866.  References Sonneveld H Loenning K: (1994): Introducing terminology in Terminology p. 1-6 Wright S.E.; Budin G.: (1997): Handbook of Terminology Management Volume 1 Basic Aspects of Terminology Management Amsterdam Philadelphia John Benjamins 370 pp. External links Look up jargon in Wiktionary the free dictionary. The Jargon Wiki - A wikified version of The Jargon File. "Global Shred Homepage". Global Shred. http://www.global-shred.com/. Retrieved 2008-02-05.