it's all Greek to me

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Phrase 1.2.1 Quotations 1.2.2 Translations 1.3 See also

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪts ɔːl ˈgriːk tə ˌmiː/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Phrase

it’s all Greek to me

1. (idiomatic) I don’t understand any of it; it makes no sense.
   • I tried reading the instructions, but it’s all Greek to me.

[edit] Quotations

		1599	1694		1844 1849	1904 1907 1927
ME: [[{{{enm}}}]] «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 1599 — William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, i 2

  but those that understood him smiled at one another and
  shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me.

• 1694 — François Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel, book V; translated by Pierre Motteux, 1694 (original French edition 1564)

  During the processions they trilled and quavered most melodiously betwixt their teeth I do not know what antiphones, or chantings, by turns. For my part, ’twas all Hebrew-Greek to me, the devil a word I could pick out on’t;

• 1844 — Frederick Marryat, The Settlers in Canada

  "Well," said Alfred, "it may be a letter, but I confess it is all Greek to me.

• 1849 — Herman Melville, Redburn. His First Voyage, ch VI

  I ran after him, and received an order to go aloft and “slush down the main-top mast.” This was all Greek to me, and after receiving the order, I stood staring about me, wondering what it was that was to be done.

• 1904 — George M. Fenn, The Ocean Cat’s Paw

  "Look here, Mr. Count," he said; "I am only a rough Englishman, and a lot of what you have been saying about mission and that sort of thing is just so much Greek to me."

• 1907 — H. G. Wells, The War in the Air

  "It’s more like some firm’s paper. All this printed stuff at the top. Drachenflieger. Drachenballons. Ballonstoffe. Kugelballons. Greek to me."

• 1927-1929 — Mahatma Gandhi, An Autobiography or The Story of my Experiments with Truth, Part II (VIII), translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai

  A Parsi lawyer was examining a witness and asking him question regarding credit and debit entries in account books. It was all Greek to me.

[edit] Translations

[edit] See also

• make head or tail of
• double Dutch