Higgledy-piggledy
adj, adv, noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A disordered jumble; a confusion.
"A Higgledy-Piggledy of Controversies and Opinions on various intereſting Subjects"
- 2 A double-dactyl; a short poem with eight lines in dactylic meter.
"Higgledy-piggledies are more sophisticated than clerihews: they comprise double dactyls and rhymes and aren't always biographical."
- 3 Any of various word games using rhyming compounds or dactylic words or phrases.
"The games are a bit archaically presented, but they include palindromes, acrostics, higgledy-piggledies, anagrams, etc."
- 1 In utter disorder or confusion; mixed up. slang
"I can't find your memo since my desk is all higgledy-piggledy."
- 1 in utter disorder wordnet
- 1 In a confused, disordered, or random way. slang
"There is no kind of arrangement as regards the buildings they are erected "higgledy-piggledy;" backs to fronts, anyhow, with narrow passages between."
- 1 in a disordered manner wordnet
Example
More examples"The rest of the things end up higgledy-piggledy around the room."
Etymology
A 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.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.