zigging, n.

zigging
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zigging_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# 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?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1970 | 0.0082
1980 | 0.0087
1990 | 0.0087
2000 | 0.0087
2010 | 0.0097

### Nearby entries

1. Ziegler-Natta, n. 1965–
2. Ziehl, n. 1892–
3. Ziehl-Neelsen, n. 1892–
4. ziff, n. 1917–
5. ZIFT, n. 1988–
6. zig, n. 1978–
7. zig, v. 1969–
8. Zigeuner, n. & adj. 1802–
9. Zigeunerin, n. 1845–83
10. ziggety, int., adj., & adv. 1924–
11. zigging, n.1977–
12. ziggurat, n. 1873–
13. zigzag, n., adj., & adv. 1712–
14. zigzag, v. 1777–
15. zigzag connection, n. 1922–
16. zigzagged, adj. 1774–
17. zigzaggery, n. 1761–
18. zigzaggy, adj. a1845–
19. zigzag machine, n. 1952–
20. zigzag trefoil, n. 1796–
21. zig-zig, n. 1918–

## Meaning & use

1. 1977–
   See zig v.
   Stressed as ˈzigging.
   1. 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
   2. 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
   1. winding a1387–
      The action or an act of moving in a curve; turning this way and that in one's course; sinuous course, progress, or movement.
   2. crankling 1598–
      A twisting or winding in and out.
   3. crangling 1608–42
   4. indenturing a1632–
   5. meandering 1652–
      The following of a winding or circuitous course; intricacy or convolution (of thought, speech, etc.); an instance of this. Usually in plural.
   6. sinuation 1653–
      The act or fact of winding about, or pursuing a winding course.
   7. serpenting a1684
      Winding.
   8. zigzaggery 1761–
      Zigzag course or proceeding (literal and figurative).
   9. twisting 1768–
      Tortuous course; intricate winding; turning this way and that; figurative evasion, prevarication; also turning aside, or about; rotation.
   10. zigzagging 1827–
   11. switchbacking 1913–
   12. zigging 1977–
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### 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

Originally published as part of the entry for zig, v.

zig, v. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.