What does shagging mean?
Shagging is the present participle of the verb shag. Its best-known modern meaning is informal and explicitly sexual: it denotes engaging in sexual intercourse and is often treated as crude or vulgar. The word also has an established practical meaning in carpet care and finishing, referring to brushing, trimming, or roughening a carpet, rug, or similar surface so that its fibers stand up properly. In a sentence, shagging may serve either as a participle describing an ongoing activity, as in “They were shagging,” or as a gerund naming an activity, as in “shagging the carpet.” The difference in register is substantial: the sexual sense belongs to informal speech, while the carpeting and craft senses are neutral. Because shagging is an inflected form rather than a standalone dictionary headword, its base form and related grammatical forms are shag, shagged, and shags. The word should not be confused with the distinct adjective shaggy, which describes something long, coarse, or untidy.
verbShagging is the present participle of shag, used especially to mean engaging in sexual intercourse. It can also mean trimming or roughening a carpet, rug, or similar surface with a wire-toothed tool.
- Engaging in sexual intercourse.
- Trimming or brushing a carpet, rug, or similar surface to restore or raise its pile.
- Roughening a surface with a tool fitted with fine wire teeth.
"The comedy routine was full of crude jokes about shagging."
"The comedian spent much of the set talking about shagging."
"They spent the morning shagging the old carpet before the furniture was moved back."
A carpet can be shagged to refresh its pile, while in modern slang the same word can describe something much less tidy.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of shagging
The word belongs to an English family whose deeper origin is uncertain. An older sense of shag denoted rough or matted hair and was extended to tobacco with a coarse cut, while shaggy preserves the older idea of long or unruly hair. The familiar sexual sense of shag is recorded from the 18th century, but its relationship to the older senses is not securely established.
Related word forms
How shagging is actually used
The sexual sense is informal and commonly regarded as vulgar or coarse, though it is widespread in English. The carpet and surface-finishing senses are neutral technical or domestic usages.
Easily confused with shagging
Shagging is a verb form with the ending -ing, whereas shaggy is an adjective describing hair or fabric that is long, coarse, or unruly.