different between fig vs zig

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??/
• Rhymes: -??

Etymology 1

From Middle English fige, fygge (also fyke, from Old English f?c, see fike), borrowed from Anglo-Norman figue, borrowed from Old French figue, from Old Occitan figa, from Vulgar Latin *f?ca (“fig”), from Latin f?cus (“fig tree”), from a pre-Indo European language, perhaps Phoenician ????????? (pg, literally “ripe fig”) (compare Biblical Hebrew ???????? (paggâ, “early fallen fig”), Classical Syriac ???? (pagg??), dialectal Arabic ????? (fajj), ????? (fijj)). (Another Semitic root (compare Akkadian ???? (t??u, literally “fig”)) was borrowed into Ancient Greek as ????? (sûkon) (whence English sycophant; Boeotian ????? (tûkon)) and Armenian as ???? (t?uz).) The soap-making sense derives from the resemblance of the granulations in and texture of the soap to those of a fig. Doublet of fico.

Noun

fig (plural figs)

1. A fruit-bearing tree or shrub of the genus Ficus that is native mainly to the tropics.
   • 1611, King James Version, Genesis 3:7:

     And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

2. The fruit of the fig tree, pear-shaped and containing many small seeds.
3. A small piece of tobacco.
4. The value of a fig, practically nothing; a fico; a whit.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act II, sc. 3:

     I'll pledge you all; and a fig for Peter!

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 6:

     About Rebecca and Jos he did not care a fig.
5. (Newfoundland, dated) a raisin (dried grape)
   • figgy duff - boiled pudding with raisins

Derived terms

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: fik
• ? Chuukese: fik
• ? Maori: piki

Translations

Verb

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (obsolete) To insult with a fico, or contemptuous motion.
2. (obsolete) To put into the head of, as something useless or contemptible.
3. (soap-making, dated) To develop, or cause (a soap) to develop, white streaks or granulations. [mid-1800s to mid-1900s]
   • 1893, Henry Gathmann, American Soaps, page 204:

     For filling figged soaps silicate of potash is best adapted, as soda prevents in a measure the proper crystallization. [...] Artificially figged soap [...makes] a very close imitation of the naturally figged soap.

   • 1897, The National Provisioner, page 27:

     Figging is usually considered to indicate a good quality of soft soap, but such is really not the case. A first-class soft soap can be made which will not fig, while, on the other hand, a poor soap can be produced which will fig.

   • 1938, Harry Bennett, The Standard Book of Formulas:

     In the cold soaps, the water soluble color is added in liquid form after saponification has started. In figged soaps, the color is crutched in after saponification is completed.

Further reading

• fig on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• fig tree on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Ficus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Etymology 2

Variation of fike.

Verb

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (intransitive) To move suddenly or quickly; rove about.

Derived terms

• figgle

Etymology 3

Noun

fig (plural figs)

1. Abbreviation of figure. (diagram or illustration)
2. (colloquial, dated) A person's figure; dress or appearance.

Alternative forms

• (abbreviation): fig.

Verb

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (colloquial, dated, transitive) To dress; to get oneself up a certain way.

Related terms

• figgery

Etymology 4

See figging.

Verb

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (transitive, rare) To insert a ginger root into the anus, vagina or urethra of (a horse): to perform figging upon; to feague, to feak.
   • 1874, The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal, page 176:

     Ginger, a showy, fast horse — as if he had been figged with ginger under his tail; a red-haired man.

   • 1901, Natal Agriculture Journal, page 744:

     He must be "figged." Figging consists in pushing a piece of crushed ginger into the return of the wretched creature — a practice which is now illegal, and of which information should be given to the R.S.P.C.A. whenever detected.

   • 2015, Becky Lower, The Cotillion Ball Saga, Simon and Schuster (?ISBN):

     “Is something amiss with the horse, Parr?” His gaze left the horse for a second as he glanced at Grace. “Yes, the horse has been figged. Now I just need to figure out who the culprit is.”

Noun

fig (plural figs)

1. The piece of ginger root used in figging.

References

Anagrams

• FGI, GFI, GIF, IGF, gif

Haitian Creole

Etymology

French figue (“fig”).

Noun

fig

1. banana

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?ik/

Noun

fig

1. genitive plural of figa

Noun

fig

1. genitive plural of figi

Volapük

Noun

fig (nominative plural figs)

1. fig

Declension

English

Etymology

Back-formation from zigzag. Compare zag.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -??

Noun

zig (plural zigs)

1. A sudden or sharp turn or change of direction.

Translations

Verb

zig (third-person singular simple present zigs, present participle zigging, simple past and past participle zigged)

1. To make such a turn.

Derived terms

• zig when one should zag

See also

• zigzag

Anagrams

• giz

German

Etymology

From the terminal syllable -zig in numerals such as zwanzig (“twenty”), vierzig (“forty”), achtzig (“eighty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ts?ç/

Numeral

zig

1. umpteen, tens of, dozens of (an unspecified number, usually between 10 and 100)

Derived terms

• zigfach
• zigmal
• zigster
• zighundert
• zigtausend

See also

• x