seesaw

Meanings

Noun

• A structure composed of a plank, balanced in the middle, used as a game in which one person goes up as the other goes down.
• A series of up-and-down movements.
• A series of alternating movements or feelings.

Verb

• To use a seesaw.
• To fluctuate.
• To cause to move backward and forward in seesaw fashion.

Adjective

• fluctuating.

Origin

• Probably a frequentative imitative of rhythmic back-and-forth, up-and-down or zigzagging motion, such as teeter-totter, zigzag, flip-flop, ping pong, etc., under the umbrella term of reduplication; also likely influenced by the verbs see and saw of either present or past tense.