This week’s theme
Back-formations

This week’s words
onymous
swashbuckle
zig
rort
couth

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(zig)

MEANING:

noun: A sharp turn or angle in a zigzag course.
verb intr.: To make a sharp turn.

ETYMOLOGY:

Back-formation from zigzag, from French zigzag, from ziczac, from German Zickzack (zigzag), perhaps a reduplication of Zacke (peak, tooth, or nail). Earliest documented use: 1894. Zigzag is from 1712.

USAGE:

“The state senator ... zigged to the right in order to appeal to primary voters, pledging to abolish the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Ben Jacobs; Sarah Palin’s Hog Castrating Clone May Cost GOP Iowa’s Senate Seat if She Wins Primary; The Daily Beast (New York); Jun 3, 2014.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: