English
Etymology
First attested mid-16th century. Origin obscure. Possibly from *gibber , of onomatopoeic origin imitating to the sound of chatter , possibly from or influenced by jabber -ish English Finnish Spanish gibber gibberish .
Pronunciation
Noun
gibberish (usually uncountable , plural gibberishes
Speech or writing that is unintelligible , incoherent or meaningless .
1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard , She: A History of Adventure Longmans, Green, and Co. , published 1887 , →OCLC 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?
2022 December 31, Matteo Wong, “Hollywood’s Love Affair With Fictional Languages ”, in The 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 mostly gibberish, even if Han Solo claims to understand Chewbacca’s bestial warbling.
Needlessly obscure or overly technical language.
( uncountable ) language game , comparable to pig Latin , in which one inserts a nonsense syllable before the first vowel in each syllable of a word .
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
unintelligible speech or writing
Albanian: dërdëllisje
Arabic: رَطَانَة f ( raṭāna )
Armenian: դատարկաբանություն (hy) ( datarkabanutʻyun ) , ցնորք (hy) ( cʻnorkʻ )
Azerbaijani: çərən-pərən
Belarusian: тараба́ршчына f ( tarabárščyna )
Breton: gregach (br)
Bulgarian: безсми́слица (bg) f ( bezsmíslica )
Chinese:
Mandarin: 亂語 ／ 乱语 ( luànyǔ ) , 胡言亂語 ／ 胡言乱语 (zh) ( húyán luànyǔ ) , 胡話 ／ 胡话 (zh) ( húhuà )
Czech: páté přes deváté hatmatilka (cs) 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 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) n pl ( kinézika )
Hebrew: קַשְׁקֶשֶׁת (he) f ( kaskeset ) גִ׳יבְּרִישׁ m ( jibrish )
Hungarian: badarság (hu) , zagyvaság (hu) , halandzsa (hu) , bikkfanyelv (hu)
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 ostrogoto (it) m arabo (it) m
Japanese: でたらめ (ja) ( detarame ) , 珍紛漢紛 ( ちんぷんかんぷん, chinpunkanpun ) , ちんぷんかんぷん (ja) ( chinpunkanpun )
Kashubian: bùlbòt m
Korean: 횡설수설(橫說竪說) ( 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 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: goileam m
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: тараба́рщина f ( tarabárščyna )
needlessly obscure or overly technical language
Arabic: ثَرْثَرَة f ( ṯarṯara ) , بَرْبَرَة f ( barbara )
Bulgarian: техни́чески жарго́н m ( tehníčeski žargón )
Chinese:
Mandarin: 亂語 ／ 乱语 ( luànyǔ ) , 胡言亂語 ／ 胡言乱语 (zh) ( húyán luànyǔ ) , 胡話 ／ 胡话 (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: goileam m
Spanish: jerga (es) f jerigonza f galimatías (es) m
Swedish: fikonspråk (sv) n
Turkish: jargon (tr)
Translations to be checked
See also
Adjective
gibberish (comparative more gibberish , superlative most gibberish )
unintelligible , incoherent or meaningless
References