higgledy-piggledy
A disordered jumble; a confusionA disordered jumble; a confusion.
Meaning
3 sensesA disordered jumble; a confusion.
A double-dactyl; a short poem with eight lines in dactylic meter.
Any of various word games using rhyming compounds or dactylic words or phrases.
Origin
A reduplicated rhyming compound. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests a possible link toA reduplicated rhyming compound. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests a possible link to pig, since the animals huddle in irregular groups, but notes that the connection is uncertain. First use appears c. 1598. The first part of the old alternative form, hoggledy-piggledy, may derive from the archaic Welsh hogldy, a hovel.
Self-reference to the form of the word higgledy-piggledy.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.