squiggle

English

Etymology

Probably a blend of squirm +‎ wiggle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskwɪɡl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɡəl

Noun

squiggle (plural squiggles)

1. A short twisting or wiggling line or mark.
   • 1939, Flora Thompson, Lark Rise:

     Even the cold ashes where a gipsy's fire had been sent little squiggles of fear down Laura's spine, for how could she know that they were not still lurking near with designs upon her own person?

2. (informal) Synonym of tilde.
3. An illegible scrawl.
4. (rare) A burst of laughter.
   • 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

     […] she dodged out again and rejoined the fleeing band which was retiring down the street to a noisy accompaniment of feigned alarm, squiggles of meaningless laughter, […]

   • 1977, Stuart Evans, The Caves of Alienation, page 281:

     […] squiggles of laughter […]

Translations

a short twisting or wiggling line or mark

• Bulgarian: завъртулка (bg) f (zavărtulka)
• Czech: klikyhák (cs) m, kudrlinka f
• Finnish: pukinsorkka
• Hungarian: krikszkraksz (hu)
• Italian: tilde (it) f
• Polish: zawijas m
• Russian: закорю́чка (ru) f (zakorjúčka), загогу́лина (ru) f (zagogúlina), крокозя́бра (ru) f (krokozjábra)
• Spanish: tilde (es)
• Ukrainian: карлючка f (karljučka)

tilde — see tilde

an illegible scrawl

• Bulgarian: драсканица f (draskanica)
• Czech: klikyhák (cs) m, škrabopis m, čmáranice (cs) f
• Finnish: harakanvarvas (fi)
• German: Gekritzel (de) n
• Hungarian: macskakaparás (hu), krikszkraksz (hu), ákombákom (hu)
• Russian: кара́кули (ru) f pl (karákuli), крокозя́бры (ru) f pl (krokozjábry)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шкработина f, жврљотина f

  Latin: škrabotina (sh) f, žvrljotina (sh) f

Verb

squiggle (third-person singular simple present squiggles, present participle squiggling, simple past and past participle squiggled) (ambitransitive)

1. To wriggle or squirm.
   • 1980 August 30, Tim Walton, “Queer Rights Strategy Argued in Quirky Dictionary”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 6, page 9:

     When I was coming of age in the '60s, I squirmed and squiggled not to be pinned down by that great transfixer "the homosexual" which American psychiatry had made into such a weighty implement.

2. To make a squiggle.
3. To write illegibly.

Translations

to write (something) illegibly

• Bulgarian: пиша неразбрано (piša nerazbrano)
• Czech: čmárat impf, načmárat pf, čmárat klikyháky
• Finnish: raapustaa
• French: griffonner (fr)
• German: kritzeln (de)
• Russian: цара́пать (ru) (carápatʹ) (lit.: to scratch), шкря́бать (ru) (škrjábatʹ) (lit.: to scratch, from Ukrainian "шкрябати")
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: нашкрабати, нажврљати

  Latin: naškrabati (sh), nažvrljati

• Ukrainian: шкря́бати (škrjábaty, literally “to scratch”)

Derived terms

• squiggler
• squiggly
• squirl

References

• “squiggle”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Quiggles