A fig; also a gesture of contempt made by inserting the thumb between the forefinger and middle finger.
From Spanish 'higo' and Italian 'fico,' both meaning fig, derived from Latin 'ficus.' The gesture meaning comes from the same source but is of disputed etymology.
The 'figo' gesture of contempt was so widespread in medieval Europe that it had different names in nearly every language—a surprising fact about how insults travel across cultures!
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