jaywalking

English

Etymology 1

Back-formation from jaywalker. Analyzable as jaywalk +‎ -ing, or jay (“a stupid person”) +‎ walking.

Noun

jaywalking (uncountable)

1. An act of behaving as a jaywalker.
   • 1919, Sinclair Lewis, Free Air, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, page 257:

     […] when he had felt unhappy over a movie theater large enough to contain ten times the population of Schoenstrom, and been cursed by a policeman for jaywalking, and had passed a hotel entirely full of diplomats and marble and caviare […]

Translations

the act of jaywalking

Danish: fumlegængeri Japanese: 信号無視 (ja) (shingōmushi)

Etymology 2

From jaywalk +‎ -ing.

Verb

jaywalking

1. present participle and gerund of jaywalk