higgledy-piggledy
/ˈhɪɡəldiˌpɪɡəldi/
higgledy-piggledy adjective: in utter disorder or confusion; mixed up.
Adjective
higgledy-piggledy (comparative more higgledy-piggledy, superlative most higgledy-piggledy)
- In utter disorder or confusion; mixed up.
- I can't find your memo since my desk is all higgledy-piggledy.
- A farmer in Hampshire was sorely distressed by the unsettling of his barn. However straightly over-night he laid his sheaves on the threshing-floor for the application of the morning's flail, when morning came, all was topsy-turvy, higgledy-piggledy, though the door remained locked, and there was...1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 305
- Synonyms:
- disordered, disorderly, hugger-mugger, jumbled, topsy-turvy, raggle-taggle
Adverb
higgledy-piggledy (comparative more higgledy-piggledy, superlative most higgledy-piggledy)
- In a confused, disordered, or random way.
- There is no kind of arrangement as regards the buildings they are erected "higgledy-piggledy;" backs to fronts, anyhow, with narrow passages between.1881, James Greenwood, chapter 11, in Low-Life Deeps
- Synonyms:
- willy-nilly
Noun (1)
higgledy-piggledy (plural higgledy-piggledies)
- A disordered jumble; a confusion.
- A Higgledy-Piggledy of Controversies and Opinions on various intereſting Subjects1779, Thomas Medley, The Shandymonian, subtitle
- Synonyms:
- hodgepodge
Noun (2)
higgledy-piggledy (plural higgledy-piggledies)
- 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.1980, Gyles Brandreth, The Joy of Lex, page 123
- 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.1994, Herbert Kohl, Masters' Word Game Collection, page 249
higgledy-piggledy meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada
higgledy-piggledy in Tamil
- பெரிதும் குழம்பிய, தாறுமாறாக
higgledy-piggledy in Malayalam
- disorganized, disordered, disorderly
- താറുമാറായ, നാനാവിധമായ, അധരോത്തര, കീഴ്മേലായ, അപര്യായ, മുറയും ക്രമവുമില്ലാത്ത
- in disorder, in a muddle, in a jumble
- നാനാവിധമായി, കീഴ്മേലായി, ആകെ കുഴഞ്ഞ്, താറുമാറായി, തലകീഴായി, തകരാറിലായി
higgledy-piggledy in Kannada
- ತೀರಾ ಅವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯ, ಯದ್ವಾ ತದ್ವಾ, ಚೆಲ್ಲಾಪಿಲ್ಲಿಯಾದ, ದಿಕ್ಕಾಪಾಲಾದ
Examples of higgledy-piggledy in a sentence
- The houses of the central village were quite unlike the casual and higgledy-piggledy agglomeration of the mountain villages he knew.1911, H. G. Wells, The Country of the Blind:
- The world is a higgledy-piggledy place, with things pleasant and unpleasant occurring in no particular sequence.1930, Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness:
Synonyms of higgledy-piggledy
Forms of higgledy-piggledy
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more higgledy-piggledy |
| superlative | most higgledy-piggledy |
| alternative form | higgledypiggledy |
| alternative form | hoggledy-piggledy |
| alternative form | hoggledy-poggledy |
| alternative form | huggledy-piggledy |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more higgledy-piggledy |
| superlative | most higgledy-piggledy |
| Noun | |
| plural | higgledy-piggledies |
Origin of higgledy-piggledy
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.
Words formed from higgledy-piggledy
Questions about higgledy-piggledy
- What does higgledy-piggledy mean?
- Higgledy-piggledy means in utter disorder or confusion; mixed up.
- What is higgledy-piggledy in Tamil?
- Higgledy-piggledy in Tamil is பெரிதும் குழம்பிய, தாறுமாறாக. See Higgledy-piggledy meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use higgledy-piggledy in a sentence?
- The houses of the central village were quite unlike the casual and higgledy-piggledy agglomeration of the mountain villages he knew.
- What part of speech is higgledy-piggledy?
- Higgledy-piggledy can be an adjective, an adverb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce higgledy-piggledy?
- Higgledy-piggledy is pronounced /ˈhɪɡəldiˌpɪɡəldi/.
Words near higgledy-piggledy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: higgledy-piggledy (page history and authors); higgledy-piggledy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); higgledy-piggledy (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); higgledy-piggledy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-higgledy-piggledy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “higgledy-piggledy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/higgledy-piggledy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.