jigsaw

Etymology

It is formed from English jig + saw,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from the verb meaning to move with a rapid jerking motion up and down^[8][5][2] and the noun for the cutting tool.^[2][5][8] The OED notes that the verb comes close to Middle French giguer (“to gambol, frolic”) of the 15th century, but thinks the likeness may be accidental, the many words built on it showing that the sound was felt as a natural expression of a jerking movement.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A saw driven up and down by a crank: 1843, in the Bangor Daily Whig & Courier of Maine.^[2] Etymonline dates the saw to 1855, in American English,^[8] Merriam-Webster to 1873^[6] and Dictionary.com to 1870–75.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The saw was used for cutting curves and ornamental patterns, and the word was soon applied attributively to the intricate architectural scrollwork it produced;^[2][6] Etymonline notes that the band-saw later largely displaced it.^[8] A jigsaw puzzle was originally one whose pieces were cut with a jigsaw,^[8][2] and the puzzle is recorded by 1906 in Etymonline.^[8] The OED's first record is from 1909, in the Daily Mirror,^[2] and jigsaw alone is now short for it.^[2][3] Such puzzles had earlier been called a dissected map or dissected picture, from 1807.^[8] The verb, to cut with a jigsaw, is recorded from 1873; it later also meant to fit pieces together like a puzzle, often figuratively.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1843 – a vertically reciprocating saw driven by a crank.^[2]
• 1873 – verb, to cut or shape with a jigsaw.^[2][6]
• 1884 – adjective, marked by intricate scrollwork.^[6]
• 1909 – a jigsaw puzzle.^[2] Etymonline dates jigsaw puzzle to 1906.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A power saw with a narrow blade that moves rapidly up and down, used for cutting curves and patterns in wood or sheet material.^[5][6][2]
2. A jigsaw puzzle: a picture mounted on board and cut into interlocking pieces to be fitted back together: They spent the rainy afternoon on a thousand-piece jigsaw.^[5][6][2][3]

Verb

1. To cut or shape with a jigsaw.^[6][2]
2. To fit or arrange in an intricate, interlocking way, like the pieces of a puzzle.^[6][2]

Adjective

1. Made of pieces cut with a jigsaw, or decorated with intricate scrollwork.^[6]

Related words

• jig
• scroll saw

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com