higgledy-piggledy

Meanings

Adjective

• In utter disorder or confusion; mixed up.

Adverb

• In a confused, disordered, or random way.

Noun

• A 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.

Related

Similar words

• disordered, disorderly, hugger-mugger, jumbled, topsy-turvy, raggle-taggle
• willy-nilly

Origin

• 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. Attested since the late sixteenth century.
• Self-reference to the form of the word higgledy-piggledy.