fig

• IPA^(key): /fɪɡ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɪɡ

From Middle English fige, fygge (also fyke, from Old English fīc, see fike), borrowed from Anglo-Norman figue, borrowed from Old French figue, from Old Occitan figa, from Vulgar Latin *fīca (“fig”), from Latin fīcus (“fig tree”), from a pre-Indo European language, perhaps Phoenician 𐤐𐤂‎ (pagh, literally “ripe fig”) (compare Biblical Hebrew פַּגָּה‎ (paggâ, “early fallen fig”), Classical Syriac ܦܓܐ‎ (paggāʾ), dialectal Arabic فَجّ‎ (fajj), فِجّ‎ (fijj))[1]. (Another Semitic root (compare Akkadian 𒈠 (tīʾu, literally “fig”)) was borrowed into Ancient Greek as σῦκον (sûkon) (Boeotian τῦκον (tûkon)) and Armenian as թուզ (tʿuz); whence English sycophant.) The soap-making sense derives from the resemblance of the granulations in and texture of the soap to those of a fig.

fig (plural figs)

1. A fruit-bearing tree or shrub of the genus Ficus that is native mainly to the tropics.
   • 1611, King James Version, Genesis 3:7:

     And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

2. The fruit of the fig tree, pear-shaped and containing many small seeds.
3. A small piece of tobacco.
4. The value of a fig, practically nothing; a fico; a whit.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act II, sc. 3:

     I'll pledge you all; and a fig for Peter!

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 6:

     About Rebecca and Jos he did not care a fig.

   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

     J. senses the entente between Eva and me and doesn't like it one fig.

• Tok Pisin: fik
• → Chuukese: fik
• → Maori: piki

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (obsolete) To insult with a fico, or contemptuous motion.
   • Shakespeare

     When Pistol lies, do this, and fig me like / The bragging Spaniard.

2. (obsolete) To put into the head of, as something useless or contemptible.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of L'Estrange to this entry?)

3. (soap-making, dated) To develop, or cause (a soap) to develop, white streaks or granulations. [mid-1800s to mid-1900s]
   • 1893, Henry Gathmann, American Soaps, page 204:

     For filling figged soaps silicate of potash is best adapted, as soda prevents in a measure the proper crystallization. [...] Artificially figged soap [...makes] a very close imitation of the naturally figged soap.

   • 1897, The National Provisioner, page 27:

     Figging is usually considered to indicate a good quality of soft soap, but such is really not the case. A first-class soft soap can be made which will not fig, while, on the other hand, a poor soap can be produced which will fig.

   • 1938, Harry Bennett, The Standard Book of Formulas:

     In the cold soaps, the water soluble color is added in liquid form after saponification has started. In figged soaps, the color is crutched in after saponification is completed.

• fig on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• fig tree on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Ficus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Variation of fike.

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (intransitive) To move suddenly or quickly; rove about.

• figgle

fig (plural figs)

1. Abbreviation of figure. (diagram or illustration)
2. (colloquial, dated) A person's figure; dress or appearance.

• (abbreviation): fig.

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (colloquial, dated, transitive) To dress; to get oneself up a certain way.

• figgery

See figging.

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (rare) To insert a ginger root into the anus, vagina or urethra of: to perform figging upon.
   • 1874, The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal, page 176:

     Ginger, a showy, fast horse — as if he had been figged with ginger under his tail; a red-haired man.

   • 1901, Natal Agriculture Journal, page 744:

     He must be "figged." Figging consists in pushing a piece of crushed ginger into the return of the wretched creature — a practice which is now illegal, and of which information should be given to the R.S.P.C.A. whenever detected.

   • 2015, Becky Lower, The Cotillion Ball Saga, Simon and Schuster (→ISBN):

     “Is something amiss with the horse, Parr?” His gaze left the horse for a second as he glanced at Grace. “Yes, the horse has been figged. Now I just need to figure out who the culprit is.”

• FGI, GFI, GIF, IGF, gif

fig (plural figs)

1. fig