Etymologically
Log in

gobbledygook

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 00:55. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɡɒbəldɪˌɡuːk/, /ˈɡɑːbəldɪˌɡuːk/[1]

Etymology

It was coined in 1944 by the Texas politician Maury Maverick,[2] in imitation of the gobbling of a turkey.[3][2] Merriam-Webster derives it irregularly from the noun gobble.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Official, professional or pretentious verbiage or jargon (1944).[5][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Maverick, then chairman of the Smaller War Plants Corporation, used it in a memo of 30 March 1944 banning “gobbledygook language”, and joked that anyone using words such as activation or implementation would be shot.[2] Maverick was a grandson of the man whose name gave maverick.[2] The word has kept its sense of wordy, unintelligible jargon,[3][4] and is also used for plain nonsense or garbled text.[1]

Timeline

  • 1944 – pompous official jargon.[5][2][4]
  • 1952 – bafflegab, a similar coinage.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Wordy, unclear and generally unintelligible jargon, especially of officials.
  2. Nonsense; meaningless or garbled language.

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press