gibberish

English

Etymology

ca. 16th century. Either an onomatopoeia, imitating to the sound of chatter, probably influenced by jabber, or derived from the root of the Irish gob (“the mouth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɪb.ə.ɹɪʃ/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

Noun

gibberish (usually uncountable, plural gibberishes)

1. Speech or writing that is unintelligible, incoherent or meaningless.
   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 12, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, OCLC 223202227:

     Such gibberish as children may be heard amusing themselves with.

   • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[2]:

     Could it be, after all, that the whole story was true, and the writing on the sherd was not a forgery, or the invention of some crack-brained, long-forgotten individual? And if so, could it be that Leo was the man that She was waiting for - the dead man who was to be born again! Impossible! The whole thing was gibberish! Who ever heard of a man being born again?

2. Needlessly obscure or overly technical language.
3. A language game, comparable to pig Latin, in which one inserts a nonsense syllable before the first vowel in each syllable of a word.

Synonyms

• gibber
• See also Thesaurus:nonsense

Translations

unintelligible speech or writing

• Albanian: dërdëllisje
• Arabic: رَطَانَة‎ f (raṭāna)
• Armenian: դատարկաբանություն (hy) (datarkabanutʿyun), ցնորք (hy) (cʿnorkʿ)
• Azerbaijani: çərən-pərən
• Breton: gregach (br)
• Bulgarian: безсмислица (bg) f (bezsmislica), непонятен говор (neponjaten govor)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 亂語, 乱语 (luànyǔ), 胡言亂語 (zh), 胡言乱语 (zh) (húyán luànyǔ), 胡話 (zh), 胡话 (zh) (húhuà)

• Czech: páté přes deváté, hatmatilka f, galimatyáš (cs) m
• Danish: vrøvl n, volapyk n, kaudervælsk (da) n, nonsens (da) n
• Dutch: gewauwel (nl) n, koeterwaals (nl) n, wartaal (nl), gebrabbel (nl) n
• Esperanto: galimatio
• Finnish: siansaksa (fi)
• French: baragouin (fr) m, charabia (fr) m, galimatias (fr) 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)
• Hebrew: קַשְׁקֶשֶׁת‎ (he) (qásh'qeshet) גִ׳יבְּרִישׁ‎ (jibrish)
• Hungarian: badarság (hu), zagyvaság (hu), halandzsa (hu), bikkfanyelv

• Icelandic: djöflaþýska f, golfranska f
• Ido: jargono (io)
• Indonesian: pepesan kosong, bahasa raban
• Irish: gibiris f
• Italian: farfuglio (it) m, borbottio m, baggianata (it) f, corbelleria (it) f
• Japanese: でたらめ (ja) (detarame), ちんぷんかんぷん (ja) (chinpunkanpun)
• Kashubian: bùlbòt m
• Korean: 횡설수설 (hoengseolsuseol)
• Limburgish: krièmerwelsj
• Macedonian: брборење n (brborenje), баботење n (babotenje)
• Maori: kōrero hunuru, reo kihi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kaudervelsk, vrøvl (no) n, vås n, kaudervelsk m, sprøyt (no) n, sludder n

• Polish: jazgot (pl) m, bełkot (pl) m
• 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)
• Scottish Gaelic: goileam m
• Spanish: algarabía (es) f, farfulla (es) f, monserga (es) f
• Swedish: nonsens (sv), rotvälska (sv), gallimatias (sv)
• Tagalog: alimim, alim-im
• Turkish: saçmalık (tr)

needlessly obscure or overly technical language

• Arabic: ثَرْثَرَة‎ f (ṯarṯara), بَرْبَرَة‎ f (barbara)
• Bulgarian: технически жаргон m (tehničeski žargon)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 亂語, 乱语 (luànyǔ), 胡言亂語 (zh), 胡言乱语 (zh) (húyán luànyǔ), 胡話 (zh), 胡话 (zh) (húhuà)

• Czech: hatmatilka f, ptydepe n
• Dutch: visserslatijn (nl) n
• Finnish: heprea (fi), munkkilatina (fi)
• Georgian: გაუგებარი (gaugebari), ტექნიკური ენა (ṭekniḳuri ena)

• 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: goileam m
• Spanish: jerga (es) f, jerigonza f, 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, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} volapukaĵo (eo), ^{(please verify)} volapukaĵoj (eo), ^{(please verify)} galimatio
• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} loba, ^{(please verify)} mula, ^{(please verify)} vadin
• Haitian Creole: ^{(please verify)} tenten
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} tauškalai, ^{(please verify)} svaičiojimas

• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} táraniny f pl
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} galimatías (es) m pl, ^{(please verify)} tonterías (es) f pl, ^{(please verify)} memeces f pl
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} lời nói lắp bắp, ^{(please verify)} câu nói sai ngữ pháp

See also

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

Adjective

gibberish (comparative more gibberish, superlative most gibberish)

1. unintelligible, incoherent or meaningless