higgledy-piggledy

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   mixed together or arranged in a confused, disorderly way, with no clear plan or pattern

   The archive was a higgledy-piggledy mixture of notebooks, cables, and instruments.

2. 2
   adv

   in a confused, random, or disorderly manner

   The books had been stacked higgledy-piggledy across the floor.

Simplified etymology

Higgledy-piggledy, recorded from the late 16th century, is probably a rhyming jingle inspired by pigs being herded together in a disorderly mass.

A playful rhyming reduplication attested in English from the late sixteenth century. Its exact origin is uncertain. It has sometimes been associated with pigs huddling irregularly, but that explanation is conjectural; the doubled rhythm itself reinforces the sense of muddle and disorder.

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