double Dutch

English

Etymology

From double (“twice, i.e. more than”) + Dutch. For sense 1: Dutch (which historically had a wider meaning) as a foreign language was not easily understood, so anything completely incomprehensible would be double Dutch, i.e. twice as hard as Dutch. Sense 2 expands on this meaning.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʌb.əl ˈdʌtʃ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

double Dutch (uncountable)

1. Incomprehensible language or speech.
   • 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 121:

     “Tell him I don’t know what he’s talking about. It’s double Dutch to me.”

2. A language game akin to pig Latin.
3. A game of jump rope with two ropes and frequently two jumpers.
4. (colloquial) Sex using a condom and the contraceptive pill at the same time.

Synonyms

• all Greek to me
• gibberish
• gobbledygook
• nonsense

Translations

incomprehensible language

• Bulgarian: неразбираем език m (nerazbiraem ezik)
• Dutch: koeterwaals (nl) n, wartaal (nl)
• Finnish: siansaksa (fi), heprea (fi)
• French: charabia (fr) m
• German: Kauderwelsch (de) n
• Greek: κινέζικα (el) n pl (kinézika)
• Hungarian: halandzsa (hu)
• Icelandic: golfranska f, skollaþýska f, hrognamál n, kúrelska f
• Italian: arabo (it) m, turco (it) m
• Polish: chińszczyzna (pl) f
• Portuguese: grego (pt) m
• Russian: тараба́рщина (ru) f (tarabárščina), кита́йская гра́мота (ru) f (kitájskaja grámota)
• Turkish: saçmalık (tr), anlaşılmaz (tr), deli saçması (tr)