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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

fig.

The fruit of the fig tree, pear-shaped and containing many small seeds.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/fɪɡ/
  1. The fruit of the fig tree, pear-shaped and containing many small seeds.

  2. A fruit-bearing tree or shrub of the genus Ficus that is native mainly to the tropics.

  3. The value of a fig, practically nothing; a fico; a whit.

  4. A Lady Finger banana, also known as the "fig banana", (cultivar of Musa acuminata)

  5. A raisin (dried grape).

    Newfoundland · dated
  6. A small piece of tobacco.

  7. A fico, a contemptuous gesture.

Where this word comes from

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 (pg, literally “ripe fig”) (compare Biblical Hebrew פַּגָּה (paggâ, “early fallen fig”), Classical Syriac ܦܓܐ (paggāʾ), dialectal Arabic فَجّ (fajj), فِجّ (fijj)). (Another Semitic root (compare Akkadian 𒈠 (tīʾu, literally “fig”)) was borrowed into Ancient Greek as σῦκον (sûkon) (whence English sycophant; Boeotian τῦκον (tûkon)) and Armenian as թուզ (tʻuz).) The soap-making sense derives from the resemblance of the granulations in and texture of the soap to those of a fig. Doublet of fico.

verb/fɪɡ/
  1. To insult with a fico, a contemptuous gesture.

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

    obsolete
  3. To develop, or cause (a soap) to develop, white streaks or granulations.

    dated
Where this word comes from

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 (pg, literally “ripe fig”) (compare Biblical Hebrew פַּגָּה (paggâ, “early fallen fig”), Classical Syriac ܦܓܐ (paggāʾ), dialectal Arabic فَجّ (fajj), فِجّ (fijj)). (Another Semitic root (compare Akkadian 𒈠 (tīʾu, literally “fig”)) was borrowed into Ancient Greek as σῦκον (sûkon) (whence English sycophant; Boeotian τῦκον (tûkon)) and Armenian as թուզ (tʻuz).) The soap-making sense derives from the resemblance of the granulations in and texture of the soap to those of a fig. Doublet of fico.

verb/fɪɡ/
  1. To move suddenly or quickly; rove about.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

Variation of fike.

noun/fɪɡ/
  1. Abbreviation of figure (“diagram or illustration”).

    abbreviation · alt-of
  2. A person's figure; dress or appearance.

    colloquial · dated
verb/fɪɡ/
  1. Abbreviation of figure (“to calculate; to think; to come to understand”).

    abbreviation · alt-of
  2. To dress; to get oneself up a certain way.

    colloquial · dated · transitive
verb/fɪɡ/
  1. To insert a ginger root into the anus, vagina or urethra of (a horse): to perform figging upon; to feague, to feak.

    rare · transitive
Where this word comes from

See figging.

noun/fɪɡ/
  1. The piece of ginger root used in figging.

Where this word comes from

See figging.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.