double Dutch
/dʌb.əl ˈdʌtʃ/
"double-dutch" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“double Dutch” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Incomprehensible language or speech.
Corpus desk
Index EN-double-dutch · double Dutch · English
double Dutch · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | double Dutch |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dʌb.əl ˈdʌtʃ/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “double Dutch” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
double Dutch is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /dʌb.əl ˈdʌtʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for double Dutch in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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 e… The correct English form is double Dutch, spelled D-O-U-B-L-E- -D-U-T-C-H.
Definition
- 1Incomprehensible language or speech.
- 2A language game akin to pig Latin.
- 3A game of jump rope with two ropes and frequently two jumpers.
- 4Sex using a condom and the contraceptive pill at the same time.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how double Dutch appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
“Tell him I don’t know what he’s talking about. It’s double Dutch to me.”
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.
Synonyms
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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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.