Open main menu
Drawing of a zig-zag.


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.

The origin of the word is unclear. Its first printed appearance was in French books in the late 17th century.[1]


Examples of zigzagsEdit

A 2-metre carpenter's ruler with centimetre divisions

Lightning and other electrical hazards are often depicted with a zigzag design, with long downward strokes and short backward ones.

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.

A carpenter's folding ruler can be folded to look like a zigzag.

Zigzags are a basic decorative pattern used on pottery, and are often seen in the cuts which separate pieces of ravioli pasta.

In sewing, a zigzag stitch is a machine stitch in a zigzag pattern.

The zigzag arch is an architectural embellishment used in Islamic, Byzantine, Norman and Romanesque architecture.[2][3]

The stripe on Charlie Brown's infamous yellow shirt is indeed a zigzag.

See alsoEdit


  1. ^ Google Books: "Word Origins and how we know them"
  2. ^ Allen, Terry (1986). "4". A Classical Revival in Islamic Architecture. Wiesbaden.
  3. ^ Allen, Terry (2008). Pisa and the Dome of the Rock (electronic publication) (2nd ed.). Occidental, California: Solipsist Press. ISBN 0-944940-08-0. Retrieved January 28, 2012.