it’s all Greek to me

[ɪts ɔːl ˈɡɹiːk tə ˌmiː]

/[ɪts ɔːl ˈɡɹiːk tə ˌmiː]/ phrase

The verdict

“it’s all Greek to me” is outside the top-ranked German vocabulary, used as a phrase - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency German
20
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - das ist griechisch für mich, ich verstehe nur Bahnhof

Key facts for it’s all Greek to me
PropertyValue
Headwordit’s all Greek to me
LanguageGerman
Part of speechPhrase
IPA[ɪts ɔːl ˈɡɹiːk tə ˌmiː]
Letters20
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “it’s all Greek to me” sits in German frequency

it’s all Greek to me falls outside the top-100,000 ranked German words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for it’s all Greek to me is 20 letters long, classified as a phrase, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ɪts ɔːl ˈɡɹiːk tə ˌmiː]. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "das ist griechisch für mich, ich verstehe nur Bahnhof".

No misspelling variants are generated for it’s all Greek to me in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is it’s all Greek to me, spelled I-T-’-S- -A-L-L- -G-R-E-E-K- -T-O- -M-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    das ist griechisch für mich, ich verstehe nur Bahnhof

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “it’s all Greek to me, German word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/de/wort/it-s-all-greek-to-me

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "it’s all Greek to me"?
"it’s all Greek to me" is spelled I-T-’-S- -A-L-L- -G-R-E-E-K- -T-O- -M-E. The IPA pronunciation is [ɪts ɔːl ˈɡɹiːk tə ˌmiː].
What does "it’s all Greek to me" mean?
As a phrase, "it’s all Greek to me" means: das ist griechisch für mich, ich verstehe nur Bahnhof
How do you pronounce "it’s all Greek to me"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "it’s all Greek to me" is [ɪts ɔːl ˈɡɹiːk tə ˌmiː]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "it’s all Greek to me" come from?
"it’s all Greek to me" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “it’s all Greek to me”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is I-T-’-S- -A-L-L- -G-R-E-E-K- -T-O- -M-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [ɪts ɔːl ˈɡɹiːk tə ˌmiː] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter I in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list