{{Short description|Pattern like a row of Ws joined together}} {{other uses}} {{dist|Zagazig}}
thumb|Drawing of a zigzag [[File:Switchback road mitsugo.JPG|thumb|A road in Akiruno, Japan designed with switchbacks]] thumb|right|A seismograph showing zigzag lines A '''zigzag''' is a pattern like a row of Ws joined together, consisting of a single line made up of line segments of usually constant length joined by usually constant angles in alternating directions.
In geometry, this pattern is described as a skew apeirogon. From the point of view of symmetry, a regular zigzag can be generated from a simple motif like a line segment by repeated application of a glide reflection.
Although the origin of the word is unclear, its first printed appearances were in French-language books and ephemera of the late 17th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Liberman |first1=Anatoly |title=Word Origins...And How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-538707-0 |language=en}}</ref>
==Examples of zigzags==
* In civil engineering, a ''switchback'' is a technique used since antiquity — in places including Machu Picchu — to build a road or path along steep terrain by zigzagging laterally across a slope.<ref>{{cite web |last=DesMarais |first=Max |date= |title=What Is a Switchback? History of Switchbacks in Hiking Trails |url=https://myoutdoorbasecamp.com/what-is-a-switchback/ |website=My Outdoor Base Camp |access-date=March 28, 2026}}</ref> * The trace of a triangle wave or a sawtooth wave is a zigzag. * Pinking shears are designed to cut cloth or paper with a zigzag edge, to lessen fraying.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shepler |first1=Missy |last2=Brent |first2=Rebecca |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Sewing |date=2011 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-51368-2 |page=84 |language=en}}</ref> * In sewing, a ''zigzag stitch'' is a machine stitch in a zigzag pattern.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gardiner |first1=Wendy |last2=Knight |first2=Lorna |title=The Sewing Machine Accessory Bible: Get the Most Out of Your Machine---From Using Basic Feet to Mastering Specialty Feet |date=2011 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-312-67658-2 |pages=34-35 |language=en}}</ref> * The zigzag arch is an architectural embellishment used in Islamic, Byzantine, Norman and Romanesque architecture.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Terry |last1=Allen |title=A Classical Revival in Islamic Architecture |place=Wiesbaden |year=1986 |chapter=4}}</ref><ref name="Allen">{{cite book |url=http://www.sonic.net/~tallen/palmtree/pisa.dor.htm |title=Pisa and the Dome of the Rock |edition=2nd |first1=Terry |last1=Allen |publisher=Solipsist Press |place=Occidental, California |year=2008 |format=electronic publication |isbn=978-0-944940-08-2|access-date=January 28, 2012}}</ref> * In seismology, earthquakes recorded in a "zigzag line" form by using seismograph.<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Seismograph - What is a seismograph? |url=https://www.sms-tsunami-warning.com/pages/seismograph#.Y7n5jLcxeDY |access-date=8 January 2023 |website=SMS-Tsunami-Warning.com |date= }}</ref>
== See also == *Serpentine shape *Infinite skew polygon
==References== {{reflist}} ==Bibliography== * {{cite journal | last=Wedgwood | first=Hensleigh | author-link=Hensleigh Wedgwood | title=On Roots mutually connected by reference to the term ''Zig-zag'' | journal=Transactions of the Philological Society | url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3924121;view=1up;seq=26 | year=1855 | issue=2 }}
{{commons category}}
Category:Patterns Category:Line (geometry)