zigzag

Etymology

It is borrowed from French zigzag,^[2][3][4][5] earlier ziczac,^[6][7] which Etymonline dates to the 1670s and the OED to 1680.^[3][2] The French word is, according to most dictionaries, from German Zickzack,^{[8][4][7][9][10]} perhaps a reduplication of Zacke (“tooth, prong”),^[8][4][3] from Middle High German zacke (“point, nail”);^[8] Skeat related it to the German word for notched work.^[11] The German word was first used of zigzag trenches at the siege of Landau in 1703, according to Klein and Etymonline,^[10][3] and Klein says it was first spelled sicsac.^[10] Because the German record is later than the French, the OED calls the ultimate origin unknown,^[2][3] and the OED, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English see it as a symbolic formation, the two different vowels suggesting the two directions.^[2][6][9] Partridge suggests echoic origin influenced by Zacke and Zicke.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A series of short lines at angles in alternate directions: 1712, in J. James's translation of Dézallier d'Argenville's book on gardening,^[2] where it describes the layout of garden paths.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English with the design of formal gardens,^[4][3] and was soon applied to other sharp, alternating turns: each of the turns (1743, in Pope's Dunciad), a road with sharp bends up a slope (before 1745, in Swift), and, in fortification, a trench dug in a zigzag so that the defenders could not fire along it (1733), the sense in which the German word is said to have begun.^[2][7] Figurative use followed in 1782, in Cowper.^[2] The adjective is recorded from 1752 and the adverb from about 1730;^[2][5][4] the verb, at first transitive ("to give a zigzag form to", 1777, in Pennant), was intransitive by 1787, in a letter of Burns;^[2] Etymonline dates the verb to 1774.^[3] Later uses include a chevron moulding in architecture (1814) and the name of a brand of cigarette paper (1909).^[2][3] In slang, zigzag meant drunk from 1917, and later also intoxicated by a drug.^[13]

Timeline

• 1712 – a line with sharp turns in alternate directions, of garden paths.^[2][4][3]
• c. 1730 – adverb, in a zigzag course.^[5][4]
• 1733 – in fortification, a zigzag trench of approach.^[2]
• 1743 – each of the sharp turns of such a line.^[2]
• before 1745 – a road or path turning sharply up a slope.^[2]
• 1752 – adjective, having a zigzag form.^[2]
• 1777 – verb, to give a zigzag form to.^[2][4]
• 1787 – verb, to move in a zigzag course.^[2]
• 1814 – in architecture, a chevron moulding.^[2]
• 1917 – slang adjective, drunk.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A line or course made of short straight sections that turn sharply in alternate directions: The skier traced a zigzag down the slope.^[14][5][2]
2. One of the sharp turns of such a line or course.^[14][5][2]
3. Something with this shape, such as a road climbing a steep slope or a chevron moulding.^[2][5]

Adjective

1. Having or following a zigzag course or form: zigzag stitches.^[14][5][2]

Adverb

1. In a zigzag course or manner.^[14][5][2]

Verb

1. To move or lie in a zigzag course.^[14][5][2]
2. To give a zigzag form to something, or to cross something in a zigzag course.^[5][2]

Word family

• zigzaggy
• zigzagger

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 r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins