English Explanatory Dictionary

gibberish

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Speech or writing that is unintelligible, incoherent or meaningless.
  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.
adj
  1. unintelligible, incoherent or meaningless

Pronunciation

/ˈd͡ʒɪ.bə.ɹɪʃ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gibberish.wav

Word forms

gibberish gibberishes more gibberish most gibberish

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 denoting the name of a language (compare English, Finnish, Spanish, etc.). The verb gibber, first attested circa 1600, is usually regarded as a back-formation from gibberish.

Synonyms

gibber

Related words

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

Derived words

gibberishlike gibberishy
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