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gigue

French, noun/ʒiɡ/

gigue is spelled G-I-G-U-E (5 letters) and appears about once in every 4 million words in written French, the 62,144th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Gigue is a French feminine noun meaning “string instrument, roughly in the form of a mandoline (c. 1120–50)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Instrument à cordes du Moyen Âge de la famille des vielles”.

What does gigue mean in English?

noun

  1. 1

    femininestring instrument, roughly in the form of a mandoline (c. 1120–50)

  2. 2

    femininelively and gay dance originally from the British Isles, gigue, jig

  3. 3

    femininemusical melody, to be danced in the way of a gigue

  4. 4

    feminineinformallong leg, tall and skinny girl, haunch of some animals especially venison (19th century)

  5. 5

    colloquialfemininedisorderly way of dancing (danser la gigue), twerk of the hips (gigue des fesses; early 20th century)

  6. 6

    femininea small boat, gig

  7. 7

    femininejitter

Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How French dictionaries define it

noun: 1. Instrument à cordes du Moyen Âge de la famille des vielles.

noun: 1. Jambe, longue jambe. 2. Cuisse du chevreuil.

noun: 1. Danse rapide ou très rapide d’origine anglaise ou irlandaise. 2. Danse de la musique traditionnelle irlandaise et québécoise. 3. Musique utilisée avec la danse homonyme. Elle est notamment utilisée dans le répertoire de musique baroque. 4. Petite chaloupe.

noun: 1. Jeune fille grandelette qui saute, qui gambade.

The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.

Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

Forms of gigue

  • gigues plural

Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

How do you pronounce gigue?

  • /ʒiɡ/
  • \ʒiɡ\

Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.

English words that translate to gigue

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is gigue in French?

gigue appears about once in every 4 million words in written French.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

What to look up after gigue