Dog Latin, or cod Latin, is a phrase or jargon that imitates Latin. This is often done by what is referred to as "translating" English words (or those of other languages) into Latin by conjugating or declining them, as if they were Latin words. Dog Latin is usually a humorous device used for mocking scholarly seriousness. The term can also refer to a poor-quality attempt at writing genuine Latin.

The origins of Dog Latin can be traced back to early examples in literature. For example, Dog Latin predates Shakespeare, whose 1590s play, Love's Labour's Lost, includes a reference to dog Latin:

Costard: Go to; thou hast it ad dungill, at the fingers' ends, as they say.
Holofernes: O, I smell false Latine; dunghill for unguem.

The term was also mentioned by Thomas Jefferson in 1815, indicating its use in scholarly and literary contexts:

Fifty-two volumes in folio, of the acta sanctorum, in dog-latin, would be a formidable enterprise to the most laborious German.

Patres conscripti took a boat, and went to Philippi;
Boatum est upsettum, magno cum grandine venti.
Omnes drownderunt qui swim away non potuerunt.
Trumpeter unus erat, qui coatum scarlet habebat;
Et magnum periwig, tied about with the tail of a dead pig.

The conscript fathers [i.e. Senators] took a boat and went to Philippi.
The boat was upset by a great hailstorm of wind.
All drowned who could not swim away.
There was a trumpeter, who had a scarlet coat,
and a great periwig, tied about with the tail of a dead pig.

Stormum surgebat et boatum oversetebat
Excipe John Periwig tied up to the tail of a dead pig.