ziggingnoun
Factsheet
Where does the noun zigging come from?
Earliest known use
1970s
The earliest known use of the noun zigging is in the 1970s.
OED's earliest evidence for zigging is from 1977, in Time.
How common is the noun zigging?
| 1970 | 0.0082 |
| 1980 | 0.0087 |
| 1990 | 0.0087 |
| 2000 | 0.0087 |
| 2010 | 0.0097 |
Nearby entries
- Ziegler-Natta, n.1965–
- Ziehl, n.1892–
- Ziehl-Neelsen, n.1892–
- ziff, n.1917–
- ZIFT, n.1988–
- zig, n.1978–
- zig, v.1969–
- Zigeuner, n. & adj.1802–
- Zigeunerin, n.1845–83
- ziggety, int., adj., & adv.1924–
- zigging, n.1977–
- ziggurat, n.1873–
- zigzag, n., adj., & adv.1712–
- zigzag, v.1777–
- zigzag connection, n.1922–
- zigzagged, adj.1774–
- zigzaggery, n.1761–
- zigzaggy, adj.a1845–
- zigzag machine, n.1952–
- zigzag trefoil, n.1796–
- zig-zig, n.1918–
Meaning & use
- 1977–See zig v.Stressed as ˈzigging.
- 1977
The Carter Administration's push for Geneva will surely require much more shoving, not to mention zigging and zagging, in the weeks ahead if it is to succeed.
Time 17 October 24/3 - 1983
Subtler to see is the line just below, whose zigging and zagging is 180 degrees out of phase with the top line.
Scientific American July 14/2
the world movement motion in a certain direction change of direction of movement [nouns] indirectness of course moving in winding course- windinga1387–The action or an act of moving in a curve; turning this way and that in one's course; sinuous course, progress, or movement.
- crankling1598–A twisting or winding in and out.
- crangling1608–42
- indenturinga1632–
- meandering1652–The following of a winding or circuitous course; intricacy or convolution (of thought, speech, etc.); an instance of this. Usually in plural.
- sinuation1653–The act or fact of winding about, or pursuing a winding course.
- serpentinga1684Winding.
- zigzaggery1761–Zigzag course or proceeding (literal and figurative).
- twisting1768–Tortuous course; intricate winding; turning this way and that; figurative evasion, prevarication; also turning aside, or about; rotation.
- zigzagging1827–
- switchbacking1913–
- zigging1977–
Frequency
zigging typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zigging is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zigging, n., 1970–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.
| Decade | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 0.0082 |
| 1980 | 0.0087 |
| 1990 | 0.0087 |
| 2000 | 0.0087 |
| 2010 | 0.0097 |