fig
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /fɪɡ/
rhymes: -ɪɡ
Forms: form: figs
Etymology: 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.
Senses: glosses: The fruit of the fig tree, pear-shaped and containing many small seeds.
examples: text: And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:7:
glosses: A fruit-bearing tree or shrub of the genus Ficus that is native mainly to the tropics.
examples: text: I'll pledge you all; and a fig for Peter!
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
text: About Rebecca and Jos he did not care a fig.
ref: 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 6, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
text: J. senses the entente between Eva and me and doesn't like it one fig.
ref: 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN:
glosses: The value of a fig, practically nothing; a fico; a whit.
glosses: A Lady Finger banana, also known as the "fig banana", (cultivar of Musa acuminata)
examples: figgy duff - boiled pudding with raisins
glosses: A raisin (dried grape).
examples: text: “You may flog, and welcome, master,” said he, “if you'll give me a fig o' tibbacky.”
ref: 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 109:
text: This was followed by his presenting his sable acquaintance with a fig of tobacco, whereupon, instead of thanking the donor in the usual way, the black signified his gratitude by throwing a spear at twenty or thirty yards' distance.
ref: 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 289:
glosses: A small piece of tobacco.
glosses: A fico, a contemptuous gesture.
Derived terms: Benjamin fig
caprifig
care a fig
cluster fig
cochineal fig
creeping fig
devil's fig
Eleme fig
figbird
fig-dust
fig-eater
figgy
fig insect
fig-leafed
fig leaf
fig-leaf
figleaf
fig-leaf gourd
fig-leaved
fig-leaved goosefoot
figless
figlet
figlike
fig marigold
fig parrot
figpecker
fig roll
fig-sew
fig-sue
figtree
fig tree
fig-wart
fig wasp
figwort
flying fig
give a fig
goat fig
Hottentot fig
Indian fig
mistletoe fig
Moreton Bay fig
not give a fig
sacred fig
strangler fig
sycomore fig
vine and fig-tree
weeping fig