wiggle
v.v. to move from side to side with small, quick motions. You might do this with your toes or your hips.
v. to move with short, quick, irregular movements from side to side. Often used with body parts or small objects.
Can you wiggle your toes inside your shoes?
The child tried to wiggle her loose tooth with her tongue to see if it would fall out.
The puppy began to wiggle its entire body with excitement the moment it saw its owner reach for the leash by the front door.
From Middle English wiglen, probably from Middle Dutch wigelen (“to wiggle”) and perhaps Middle Low German wigelen, frequentative of wiegen (“to rock”), from wiege (“cradle”). See wain, and Dutch wieg (“cradle”). Cognate to Dutch wiggelen (“to wiggle”), Low German wiggeln (“to wiggle”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Often used as an intransitive verb, but can be transitive when moving an object ('wiggle the key').
Last updated May 7, 2026