Word.ws English Dictionary

cryptophasia

cryptophasia noun: the development by twins (identical or fraternal) of a language that only they can understand.

Noun

cryptophasia (uncountable)

  1. The development by twins (identical or fraternal) of a language that only they can understand.
    • Whether it's called cryptophasia, idioglossia, autonomous language, or plain ol' twin talk, the secret language among twins has long been a source of fascination to both parents and researchers alike. According to twin statistics ...2006, Karen Gottesman, Raising Twins After the First Year: Everything You Need to Know about Bringing Up Twins - From Toddlers to Preteens, Da Capo Press, →ISBN, page 84

Origin of cryptophasia

From Ancient Greek κρυπτός (kruptós, “hidden”) + -φασία (-phasía, “speech”) (from φάσις (phásis, “utterance”), from φημί (phēmí, “I speak”)). Equivalent to crypto- + -phasia.

Questions about cryptophasia

What does cryptophasia mean?
Cryptophasia means the development by twins (identical or fraternal) of a language that only they can understand.
What part of speech is cryptophasia?
Cryptophasia is a noun.

Words near cryptophasia in the dictionary

  1. cryptoperthitic
  2. cryptophagid
  3. cryptophagids
  4. cryptophane
  5. cryptophanes
  6. cryptophasia
  7. cryptophasic
  8. cryptophobia
  9. cryptophone
  10. cryptophones
  11. cryptophthalmos

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cryptophasia (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “cryptophasia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cryptophasia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.