different between jig vs zig

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: j?g; IPA^(key): /d????/
• Rhymes: -??

Etymology 1

An assimilated form of earlier gig, from Middle English gigge, from Old French gige, gigue (“a fiddle, kind of dance”), from Frankish *g?ge (“dance, fiddle”), from Proto-Germanic *g?gan? (“to move, wish, desire”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?ey??-, *g?eyg?- (“to yawn, gape, long for, desire”).

Cognate with Middle Dutch ghighe (“fiddle”), German Geige (“fiddle, violin”), Danish gige (“fiddle”), Icelandic gígja (“fiddle”). More at gig, geg.

Noun

jig (plural jigs)

1. (music) A light, brisk musical movement; a gigue.
2. (traditional Irish music and dance) A lively dance in 6/8 (double jig), 9/8 (slip jig) or 12/8 (single jig) time; a tune suitable for such a dance. By extension, a lively traditional tune in any of these time signatures. Unqualified, the term is usually taken to refer to a double (6/8) jig.
3. (traditional English Morris dancing) A dance performed by one or sometimes two individual dancers, as opposed to a dance performed by a set or team.
4. (fishing) A type of lure consisting of a hook molded into a weight, usually with a bright or colorful body.
5. A device in manufacturing, woodworking, or other creative endeavors for controlling the location, path of movement, or both of either a workpiece or the tool that is operating upon it. Subsets of this general class include machining jigs, woodworking jigs, welders' jigs, jewelers' jigs, and many others.

6. (mining) An apparatus or machine for jigging ore.
7. (obsolete) A light, humorous piece of writing, especially in rhyme; a farce in verse; a ballad.
8. (obsolete) A trick; a prank.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

jig (third-person singular simple present jigs, present participle jigging, simple past and past participle jigged)

1. To move briskly, especially as a dance.

2. To move with a skip or rhythm; to move with vibrations or jerks.
3. (fishing) To fish with a jig.
4. To sing to the tune of a jig.
5. To trick or cheat; to cajole; to delude.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ford to this entry?)

6. (mining) To sort or separate, as ore in a jigger or sieve.
7. To cut or form, as a piece of metal, in a jigging machine.

Translations

Etymology 2

Clipping of jigaboo, of uncertain origin, perhaps an African/Bantu word. Alternatively, jigaboo is derived from jig (“dance”).

Noun

jig (plural jigs)

1. (US, offensive, slang, dated, ethnic slur) A black person.

References

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