topsy-turvy

Meaning

Adv

1. Backwards or upside down; also, having been overturned or upset.
2. (figuratively) Not in the natural order of things; in a disorderly manner; chaotically.

Adj

1. Backwards or upside down.
2. (figuratively) Chaotic; disorderly.

Noun

1. (countable) An act of turning something backwards or upside down, or the situation that something is in after this has happened.
2. (countable, figuratively) A situation where the natural order of things has been upset.
3. (figuratively, uncountable) Chaos, confusion, disorder.

Verb

1. (transitive) To turn topsy-turvy or upside down; to invert.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To throw into chaos or disorder; to upset.

Synonyms

upside down

higgledy-piggledy

head over heels

hugger-mugger

disorderly

confused

😕

pell-mell

helter-skelter

topsy-turvily

heels over head

awry

jumbled

in great confusion

chaotic

cluttered

in confusion

haywire

hectic

incoherent

inverted

mazed

mixed-up

muddled

overwrought

perplexed

punch-drunk

screwy

semiconscious

silly

stupid

tangled

undone

unordered

unstuck

upset

woolly

addled

the wrong way round

arsy-versy

screw-loose

shambolically

face downwards

at random

backwards

befuddled

busy

clouded

complicated

confusedly

confusing

Translations

sens dessus dessous

ondersteboven

disordinato

desordenado

désordonné

al revés

chaotisch

sottosopra

Drunter und Drüber

durcheinander

chaotisch

de travers

chaotique

sens devant derrière

das Hinterste zuvorderst

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˌtɒpsɪˈtəːvi/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: terven

Inherited from Old English: *tierfan

Cognate with Old English: tearflian

Inherited from Old English: torfian

Cognate with Old English: ġetyrfian

In summary

The origin of the adverb and adjective are uncertain. Topsy is probably derived from top or tops, though this does not explain the -sy ending; it has been suggested that the latter comes from so (thus, top so) or from top-set or top-side, modified to match the -y ending of turvy. The term topside-turvy is mentioned in the Anglo-Irish writer Laurence Sterne’s novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759–1767).Turvy is probably derived from a rare (scarcely attested) obsolete English word terve, turve (“to be thrown down; to fall; to dash down; to cast, throw; to turn back or down; to fold or roll over”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of; inclined to’), with turve inherited from Middle English terven (“to throw (something) down; to throw (something) into confusion; to level; to resort or turn (to something); to go, move; to turn; to collapse, fall”) […], perhaps from Old English *tierfan (compare Old English tearflian (“to roll over, wallow”)) or from Old English torfian (“to launch, throw; to shoot missiles at; to stone; to be tossed”), from Proto-Germanic *turbōną (“to fling, hurl”), *turbijaną (“to turn, twist”) (whence Old English ġetyrfian (“to assail with missiles; to assault, attack”)), from Proto-Indo-European *derbʰ- (“to spin, twist”). Thus, the term as a whole may literally mean “having the top side thrown or turned down”.
The noun and verb are probably derived from the adverb and adjective.