double Dutch

Meaning

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

Synonyms

gibberish

gobbledygook

babble

cant

double talk

incomprehensible

jargon

lingo

unintelligible language

incoherent language

talking nonsense

Greek

🇬🇷

“all Greek to me”

Hebrew

babbling

Translations

charabia

Kauderwelsch

jerigonza

Buch mit sieben Siegeln

c’est du russe

incohérent

arabo

parlare in slang

koeterwaals

wartaal

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dʌb.əl ˈdʌtʃ/

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.