gibberish

English

Etymology

First attested mid-16th century. Origin obscure. Possibly from*gibber,ofonomatopoeicorigin imitating to the sound ofchatter,possibly from or influenced byjabber,+‎-ishdenoting the name of a language (compareEnglish,Finnish,Spanish,etc.). The verbgibber,first attested circa 1600, is usually regarded as a back-formation fromgibberish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈd͡ʒɪb.ə.ɹɪʃ/

• Audio(Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

gibberish(usuallyuncountable,pluralgibberishes)

1. Speechorwritingthat isunintelligible,incoherentormeaningless.
   • 1850,Nathaniel Hawthorne,chapter 12, inThe Scarlet Letter, a Romance,Boston, Mass.:Ticknor, Reed, and Fields,→OCLC:

     Suchgibberishas children may be heard amusing themselves with.

   • 1886October –1887January,H[enry] Rider Haggard,She: A History of Adventure,London:Longmans, Green, and Co.,published1887,→OCLC:

     Could it be, after all, that the whole story was true, and the writing on the sherd wasnota forgery, or the invention of some crack-brained, long-forgotten individual? And if so, could it be thatLeowas the man thatShewas waiting for - the dead man who was to be born again! Impossible! The whole thing wasgibberish!Who ever heard of a man being born again?

   • 2022December 31, Matteo Wong, “Hollywood’s Love Affair With Fictional Languages”,inThe Atlantic:

     The Game of Thrones novels were best sellers without fleshed-out Dothraki; the languages in Star Wars, one of the most successful franchises ever, are mostlygibberish,even if Han Solo claims to understand Chewbacca’s bestial warbling.

2. Needlessly obscure or overly technical language.
3. (uncountable)Alanguage game,comparable topig Latin,in which one inserts a nonsensesyllablebefore the firstvowelin each syllable of aword.

Synonyms

• gibber
• See alsoThesaurus:nonsense

Derived terms

• gibberishy

Translations

unintelligible speech or writing

• Albanian:dërdëllisje
• Arabic:رَطَانَةf(raṭāna)
• Armenian:դատարկաբանություն(hy)(datarkabanutʻyun),ցնորք(hy)(cʻnorkʻ)
• Azerbaijani:çərən-pərən
• Belarusian:тараба́ршчынаf(tarabárščyna)
• Breton:gregach(br)
• Bulgarian:безсми́слица(bg)f(bezsmíslica)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Loạn ngữ／Loạn ngữ(luànyǔ),Hồ ngôn loạn ngữ／Hồ ngôn loạn ngữ(zh)(húyán luànyǔ),Hồ thoại／Hồ thoại(zh)(húhuà)

• Czech:páté přes deváté,hatmatilka(cs)f,galimatyáš(cs)m
• Danish:vrøvln,volapykn,kaudervælsk(da)n,nonsens(da)n
• Dutch:gewauwel(nl)n,koeterwaals(nl)n,wartaal(nl),gebrabbel(nl)n
• Esperanto:galimatio,volapukaĵo(eo)
• Finnish:siansaksa(fi),heprea(fi)
• French:baragouin(fr)m,charabia(fr)m,galimatias(fr)m,chinois(fr)m
• Galician:chinés(gl)m
• Georgian:გაუგებარი მეტყველება(gaugebari meṭq̇veleba),გაუგებარი ყბედობა(gaugebari q̇bedoba),აბდაუბდა(ka)(abdaubda)
• German:Kauderwelsch(de)n,Kokolores(de)m,Gequassel(de)n,Geschwafel(de)n
• Greek:ασυναρτησίες(el)(asynartisíes),αλαμπουρνέζικα(el)(alampournézika),κινέζικα(el)npl(kinézika)
• Hebrew:קַשְׁקֶשֶׁת(he)f(kaskeset)גִ׳יבְּרִישׁm(jibrish)
• Hungarian:badarság(hu),zagyvaság(hu),halandzsa(hu),bikkfanyelv(hu)
• Icelandic:djöflaþýskaf,golfranskaf
• Ido:jargono(io)
• Indonesian:pepesan kosong,bahasa raban
• Irish:gibirisf
• Italian:farfuglio(it)m,borbottiom,baggianata(it)f,corbelleria(it)f,ostrogoto(it)m,arabo(it)m
• Japanese:でたらめ(ja)(detarame),Trân phân hán phân(ちんぷんかんぷん, chinpunkanpun),ちんぷんかんぷん(ja)(chinpunkanpun)
• Kashubian:bùlbòtm
• Korean:횡설수설( hoành thuyết thụ thuyết )(hoengseolsuseol)
• Limburgish:krièmerwelsj
• Macedonian:брборењеn(brborenje),баботењеn(babotenje)
• Maori:kōrero hunuru,reo kihi,kunanu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:kaudervelsk,vrøvl(no)n,våsn,kaudervelskm,sprøyt(no)n,sluddern,gresk(no)m

  Nynorsk:gresk(nn)m

• Polish:jazgot(pl)m,bełkot(pl)m,bajdura(pl)f
• Portuguese:algaravia(pt)f,grego(pt)m
• Russian:тараба́рщина(ru)f(tarabárščina),невня́тность(ru)f(nevnjátnostʹ),белиберда́(ru)f(beliberdá),галиматья́(ru)f(galimatʹjá),абракада́бра(ru)f(abrakadábra),пти́чий язы́к(ru)m(ptíčij jazýk)
• Scottish Gaelic:goileamm
• Spanish:algarabía(es)f,farfulla(es)f,monserga(es)f
• Swedish:nonsens(sv)n,rotvälska(sv)c,gallimatias(sv)c,grekiska(sv)c
• Tagalog:alimim,alim-im
• Turkish:saçmalık(tr)
• Ukrainian:тараба́рщинаf(tarabárščyna)

needlessly obscure or overly technical language

• Arabic:ثَرْثَرَةf(ṯarṯara),بَرْبَرَةf(barbara)
• Bulgarian:техни́ческижарго́нm(tehníčeski žargón)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Loạn ngữ／Loạn ngữ(luànyǔ),Hồ ngôn loạn ngữ／Hồ ngôn loạn ngữ(zh)(húyán luànyǔ),Hồ thoại／Hồ thoại(zh)(húhuà)

• Czech:hatmatilka(cs)f,ptydepe(cs)n
• Dutch:visserslatijn(nl)n
• Finnish:heprea(fi),munkkilatina(fi)
• Georgian:გაუგებარი(gaugebari),ტექნიკური ენა(ṭekniḳuri ena)
• German:Fachchinesisch(de)n
• Japanese:ちんぷんかんぷん(ja)(chinpunkanpun)
• Polish:jazgot(pl)m,bełkot(pl)m
• Portuguese:jargão(pt)m
• Russian:тараба́рщина(ru)f(tarabárščina),белиберда́(ru)f(beliberdá),бессмы́слица(ru)f(bessmýslica)
• Scottish Gaelic:goileamm
• Spanish:jerga(es)f,jerigonzaf,galimatías(es)m
• Swedish:fikonspråk(sv)n
• Turkish:jargon(tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto:^{(pleaseverify)}volapukaĵo(eo),^{(pleaseverify)}volapukaĵoj(eo),^{(pleaseverify)}galimatio
• Estonian:^{(pleaseverify)}loba,^{(pleaseverify)}mula,^{(pleaseverify)}vadin
• Haitian Creole:^{(pleaseverify)}tenten
• Lithuanian:^{(pleaseverify)}tauškalai,^{(pleaseverify)}svaičiojimas
• Slovak:^{(pleaseverify)}táraninyfpl
• Spanish:^{(pleaseverify)}galimatías(es)mpl,^{(pleaseverify)}tonterías(es)fpl,^{(pleaseverify)}memecesfpl
• Vietnamese:^{(pleaseverify)}lời nói lắp bắp,^{(pleaseverify)}câu nói sai ngữ pháp

See also

• double Dutch
• framis
• gobbledygook,gobbledegook
• galimatias
• jargon
• mumbo jumbo
• nonsense
• rhubarb rhubarb

Adjective

gibberish(comparativemoregibberish,superlativemostgibberish)

1. unintelligible,incoherentormeaningless