Albert Barrère was a French compiler of French dictionaries, though public information about his life, including his birth and death dates, is limited. He is remembered for co-editing, with Charles Leland, the dictionary Argot and Slang. The work focuses on the colloquial speech of marginal social groups in French and English, systematically collecting and explaining slang, jargon, and cant as a distinct lexical subject and reflecting how popular language was actually used. Compiling such material required wide gathering and organizing of spoken usage, giving the work value both as a record of language and as dictionary-making. The dictionary is still consulted in the study of slang and popular usage, and through this collaborative work Barrère holds a place in the history of lexicography.
