Virgated

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Marked with stripes or streaks running in parallel lines
2. Having a pattern of parallel lines or stripes that create a distinct decorative effect
3. Exhibiting a series of stripes in a consistent or alternating manner

Etymology: "Virgated" is built on "virgate," a word that passed into English from Latin "virgatus," meaning "striped." That Latin adjective comes from "virga," a rod, twig or switch, so the original picture is of something marked with thin lines the way a branch or wand is long and slender. The English adjective simply carries that sense of parallel streaks into decoration, describing surfaces patterned with stripes. The connection to a rod or switch is the heart of the story: a stripe is, in effect, a line drawn as neatly as a stick is straight. The same Latin root gave English words for slender shoots and for the staff-like things that were used to mark out distinctions, so the word has always pointed toward the image of long, thin, parallel marks rather than toward colour or blotches.