zigzag

• zig-zag

Attested from 1712. Borrowed from French zigzag (attested from 1662),^[1] possibly from a Germanic source via Walloon ziczac (although German Zickzack is attested only from 1703). Also, possibly from the shape of the letter Z, which appears twice in the word. Sense “drunk” from the zigzag movements of a drunk person.

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɪɡ.zæɡ/

• Audio (US):

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zigzag (plural zigzags)

1. A line or path that proceeds by sharp turns in alternating directions.
   • 1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Advice from a Caterpillar”, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 70:

     She had just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in a hurry: […] .

   • 1891 February–December, Robert Louis Stevenson, In the South Seas […], New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1896, →OCLC:

     And still, high in front, arose the precipitous barrier of the mountain, greened over where it seemed that scarce a harebell could find root, barred with the zigzags of a human road where it seemed that not a goat could scramble.

2. One of these sharp turns.

• zigzag railway
• zigzag salamander

zigzag (not comparable)

1. Moving in, or having a zigzag.
   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter II, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 20:

     The entrance to this ancient place of devotion was under a very low round arch, ornamented by several courses of that zig-zag moulding, resembling shark's teeth, which appears so often in the more ancient Saxon churches.

   • 1854 September – 1855 January, [Elizabeth Gaskell], chapter 6, in North and South. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1855, →OCLC, pages 78–79:

     His thoughts were fixed on one subject, and it was an effort to him to follow the zigzag remarks of his children—an effort which he did not make.

   • 1866 December 10, Charles Dickens, “No. 1 Branch Line. The Signal-Man.”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Mugby Junction. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round, volume XVI, London: Published at No. 26, Wellington Street; and by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 21, column 1:

     There, by dint of looking closely about me, I found a rough zig-zag descending path notched out: which I followed.

   • 1872 September – 1873 July, Thomas Hardy, A Pair of Blue Eyes. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1873, →OCLC:

     Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights, forming the series which culminated in the one beneath their feet.

   • 1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     We followed the mule-road, a zigzag course, now to the right, now to the left, but always up, and always crowded and incommoded by going and coming files of reckless tourists who were never, in a single instance, tied together.

   • 1912 January, Zane Grey, “Surprise Valley”, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 102:

     Then he addressed a keen-sighted, remembering gaze to the rim-wall above. It was serrated, and between two spears of rock, directly in line with his position, showed a zigzag crack that at night would let through the gleam of sky.

2. (US military slang, World War I) Drunk.^[2]

zigzag (third-person singular simple present zigzags, present participle zigzagging, simple past and past participle zigzagged)

1. To move or to twist in a zigzag manner.

   Synonym: zig and zag

   • 1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC:

     […] she saw them as we see the throngs which cover the canvases of Sallaert, Van Alsloot, and others of that school—vast masses of beings, jostling, zigzagging, and processioning in definite directions, but whose features are indistinguishable by the very comprehensiveness of the view.

   • 1912 January, Zane Grey, “Surprise Valley”, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 98:

     At the base this vent was dark, cool, and smelled of dry, musty dust. It zigzagged so that he could not see ahead more than a few yards at a time.

   • 2002, Malcolm Yorke, Mervyn Peake: My Eyes Mint Gold: A Life, page 298:

     If the first two novels created a new genre — Peakean fantasy — then this third volume zigzags between several: the Bildungsroman, science fiction, social satire, morality tale and dystopian prophecy.

• zig when one should zag

zigzag (comparative more zigzag, superlative most zigzag)

1. in a zigzag manner or pattern

• “zigzag adj.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Borrowed from French zigzag.

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɪx.zɑx/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: zig‧zag

zigzag m (plural zigzags, diminutive zigzagje n)

1. zigzag (line in a sawtooth pattern)

• zigzaggen

• zig-zag
• ziczac (obsolete)

From a Germanic source. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ziɡ.zaɡ/

• Audio:

  (file)

zigzag m (plural zigzags)

1. zigzag

• “zigzag”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈziɡzaɡ/ [ˈzik̚.zak̚]
• Rhymes: -iɡzaɡ
• Syllabification: zig‧zag

zigzag

1. alternative form of zig-zag

zigzag (comparative lebih zigzag, superlative paling zigzag)

1. alternative form of zig-zag

zigzag

1. alternative form of zig-zag

Borrowed from French zigzag.

zigzag n (plural zigzaguri)

1. zigzag

Borrowed from French zigzag.

• IPA^(key): /θiɡˈθaɡ/ [θiɣ̞ˈθaɣ̞] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /siɡˈsaɡ/ [siɣ̞ˈsaɣ̞] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -aɡ
• Syllabification: zig‧zag

zigzag m (plural zigzags or zigzagues)

1. zigzag

• “zigzag”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

• “zigzag”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024