zigzagged, adj.

zigzagged
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zigzagged_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zigzaggedadjective

## Earlier version

- zigzagged, a. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zigzagged mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zigzagged. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How common is the adjective zigzagged?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1780 | 0.0028
1790 | 0.0022
1800 | 0.0019
1810 | 0.0022
1820 | 0.0012
1830 | 0.0014
1840 | 0.0014
1850 | 0.0011
1860 | 0.0013
1870 | 0.0014
1880 | 0.001
1890 | 0.0011
1900 | 0.0011
1910 | 0.0011
1920 | 0.001
1930 | 0.0009
1940 | 0.0008
1950 | 0.0008
1960 | 0.0009
1970 | 0.0011
1980 | 0.0014
1990 | 0.0014
2000 | 0.0015
2010 | 0.0017

### How is the adjective zigzagged pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪɡzaɡd/
ZIG-zagd

### Where does the adjective zigzagged come from?

Earliest known use

late 1700s

The earliest known use of the adjective zigzagged is in the late 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zigzagged is from 1774, in the writing of Oliver Goldsmith, author.

zigzagged is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zigzag n., zigzag v., ‑ed suffix1.

### Nearby entries

1. ZIFT, n. 1988–
2. zig, n. 1978–
3. zig, v. 1969–
4. Zigeuner, n. & adj. 1802–
5. Zigeunerin, n. 1845–83
6. ziggety, int., adj., & adv. 1924–
7. ziggurat, n. 1873–
8. zigzag, n., adj., & adv. 1712–
9. zigzag, v. 1777–
10. zigzag connection, n. 1922–
11. zigzagged, adj.1774–
12. zigzaggery, n. 1761–
13. zigzaggy, adj. a1845–
14. zigzag machine, n. 1952–
15. zigzag trefoil, n. 1796–
16. zig-zig, n. 1918–
17. Zika, n. 1952–
18. Zilavka, n. 1926–
19. zilch, n. & adj. 1925–
20. zilch, v. 1957–
21. zill, n. 1754–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
< zigzag n. or zigzag v. + ‑ed suffix1.

## Meaning & use

1. 1774–
   Having a zigzag form or marking.
   1. 1774

      > The body oblong; the line running down the side zigzagged towards the tail.

      O. Goldsmith, History of Earth vol. VI. 307
   2. 1781

      > The zigzagged semicircle of this arch.

      T. Warton, Specimen Hist. Oxfordshire (1783) 4
   3. 1829

      > [The house] presents sundry crowfooted, alias zigzagged, gables.

      Abbotsford Described in A. Cunningham, Anniversary 88
   4. 1841

      > On the external barbs of the caudal feathers are two zigzagged bands.

      Penny Cyclopaedia vol. XXI. 86/1
   1. indented a1616–
      Having a serrated or zigzag figure, direction, or course, as a line, wall, moulding, path, etc.; constructed with salient and re-entrant angles…
   2. zigzag 1752–
      Having the form of a zigzag; turning sharply at angles in alternate directions; characterized by turns of this kind.
   3. zigzagged 1774–
      Having a zigzag form or marking.
   4. zigzaggy a1845–
      Characterized by zigzags or short sharp turns at alternate angles.
   5. zigzag-shaped 1846–
      zigzag-shaped adj.; zigzag fashion, zigzag-wise quasi-adverbs.
   6. chevrony 1887–
      gen. Formed of chevrons, zigzag.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. flecked 1664–70
      Of woodwork: Grained; marked. Obsolete.
   2. zigzagged 1774–
      Having a zigzag form or marking.
   3. zigzag 1785–
      Having zigzag markings. (Chiefly Natural History.)
   4. vermiculated 1872–
      Ornamented with sinuous or wavy lines or markings of a specified colour.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪɡzaɡd/
ZIG-zagd

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Frequency

zigzagged typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zigzagged 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 zigzagged, adj., 1780–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1780 | 0.0028
1790 | 0.0022
1800 | 0.0019
1810 | 0.0022
1820 | 0.0012
1830 | 0.0014
1840 | 0.0014
1850 | 0.0011
1860 | 0.0013
1870 | 0.0014
1880 | 0.001
1890 | 0.0011
1900 | 0.0011
1910 | 0.0011
1920 | 0.001
1930 | 0.0009
1940 | 0.0008
1950 | 0.0008
1960 | 0.0009
1970 | 0.0011
1980 | 0.0014
1990 | 0.0014
2000 | 0.0015
2010 | 0.0017

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zigzaggedness, n. 1893–

1. zigzaggedly, adv. 1921–

zigzagged, adj. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zigzagged, adj. was last modified in December 2024.