Etymologically
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wiggle

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈwɪɡəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wigelen, also wiglen,[2][3] probably borrowed from Middle Low German wiggelen (“to totter, reel”) or from Middle Dutch wighelen.[4][5][6][7][3] Barnhart and the MED call the borrowing only possible,[8][2] and the OED leaves open whether the English verb was borrowed from these words or is only cognate with them.[9] The Dutch and Low German verbs are frequentatives of a stem seen in Low German wiggen and dialectal Norwegian vigge;[9][7] Barnhart and Etymonline connect them with wiegen (“to rock”), from wiege (“cradle”).[8][10] The stem goes back to Proto-Germanic *wig-, also the source of Old High German wiga (“cradle”), German Wiege and Old Frisian widze,[10][8] and is related to Old English wegan (“to move”), the source of weigh, and to wicga (“insect”), the source of earwig.[8][3][11][12] Watkins and Etymonline trace it to Proto-Indo-European *wegh- (“to go, move, transport in a vehicle”).[10][4] The OED compares the parallel verbs wag and waggle,[9][6] and Partridge took the word as a thinned form of the latter.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To move unsteadily to and fro, to stagger or reel: about 1225, in the Ancrene Riwle, where the glutton reels like a drunken man.[9][2] Barnhart dates the Ancrene Riwle use to before 1200,[8] Etymonline to about 1200.[10]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb was also used of an arrow wobbling in flight and of a snake moving along with an undulating motion.[2] From 1685 it was also transitive, to move something to and fro.[9] The noun followed in the early 19th century,[9][3][10] and the American slang phrase get a wiggle on, to hurry up, is first found in a New Zealand newspaper of 1892.[14][9][15] The Shorter Oxford labels the word colloquial and dialectal.[6] In Scots and northern English dialect it meant to waggle or shake, and also to waddle, reel or stagger in walking, and wiggle-waggle was used for a swaying motion and for the quaking-grass.[16] In the 20th century a wiggle was also a wavy line drawn with a pen (1942) and, in archaeology, an irregularity in the curve used to calibrate radiocarbon dates (1972).[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1225 – to move unsteadily, reel, in the Ancrene Riwle.[9][2] Barnhart dates it to before 1200.[8]
  • late 14th century – the noun wiggling.[10]
  • 1685 – transitive, to move something to and fro.[9]
  • 1817 – noun, a wiggling movement, in J. K. Paulding.[9] Merriam-Webster and Etymonline date the noun to 1816,[3][10] Barnhart to 1894.[8]
  • 1892 – get a wiggle on, to hurry up.[14]
  • 1903 – the adjective wiggly.[8]
  • 1942 – a wavy line drawn with a pen or pencil.[9]
  • 1972 – an irregularity in a radiocarbon calibration curve.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To move back and forth or from side to side with small, quick, jerky movements: The puppy's tail wiggled as he waited for dinner.[3][15][9]
  2. To make something move in this way: She wiggled her toes in the warm sand.[15][9]

Noun

  1. An act of wiggling; a wriggling or wagging movement.[15][3][9]
  2. A wavy line drawn with a pen or pencil.[9]
  3. get a wiggle on (slang, chiefly US): to hurry up.[15][3][14]
  4. A dish of fish or shellfish in a cream sauce with peas.[3]

Word family

  • wiggly
  • wiggler
  • wiggle room
  • wag
  • waggle
  • wriggle
  • weigh
  • earwig

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  14. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  15. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)