What does pegged mean
Executive summary
"Pegged" is a versatile English word whose meanings range from the literal past tense of "peg" to idiomatic uses meaning "estimated or assigned," "fixed or tied (especially currencies)," "judged or understood someone’s character," and a separate sexual term for strap-on anal penetration; authoritative lexicons and specialist sources document these distinct senses [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. The simple, physical sense: past tense of peg and the object peg
At its most literal, "pegged" is simply the past tense and past participle of the verb "peg," which derives from the noun peg — a small piece of wood, metal, or other material used to fasten or hang things — so sentences like "the tent was pegged down" use pegged in an ordinary physical sense [1] [6] [7].
2. Estimated, assigned, or calculated: everyday idiom
A very common non‑physical meaning is "estimated" or "calculated," where something is said to be "pegged at" a value or rate — for example, "the damage was pegged at about $61,000" — and this usage appears repeatedly in mainstream dictionaries and example sentences as a way to report an initial or conventional estimate [2] [8].
3. Fixed or tied: the economic use for currencies and assets
In economics and finance, "pegged" describes a deliberate policy of fixing one asset’s value to another — most often a currency fixed to a stable foreign currency — and analysts warn that while a peg can stabilize trade and prices it also requires reserves and can expose a country to inflation or speculative pressures [3] [9]. Ledger’s glossary frames pegging in crypto the same way: an asset’s value attached to another to maintain a ratio [9].
4. Pegged as "understood" or judged: idiomatic characterization
Another idiomatic use, often phrased "have someone pegged" or "had him pegged," means to have judged or understood what kind of person someone is; lexicons like Merriam‑Webster and Longman give this psychological characterization sense with examples such as "The salesman had me pegged in a matter of minutes" and "I'd had him pegged as a troublemaker" [4] [10].
5. Sexual meaning: pegging as a specific sexual practice
Separately, "pegging" (the noun/gerund form) names a sexual practice usually defined as a woman using a strap‑on dildo to anally penetrate a man; academic and cultural sources trace the term’s popularization to Dan Savage and note debates about terminology and scope, with some queer writers preferring "strap‑on sex" because "pegging" can feel cisheteronormative, while others accept a broader gender‑neutral meaning [5] [11] [12].
6. How context disambiguates meaning and why confusion arises
Because "pegged" appears across literal, idiomatic, economic, and sexual contexts, understanding depends entirely on context: a news line about a subsidy "pegged at $200 million" signals estimation or fixed allocation [2], a finance piece about exchange‑rate policy uses the technical economic sense [3], a review of interpersonal interaction may use the "have someone pegged" idiom [4], and sexual or subcultural discussions use pegging to mean strap‑on penetration [5]. Dictionaries and specialist glossaries reflect these multiple entries rather than a single origin, so apparent contradictions are resolved by pragmatic reading and domain knowledge [1] [8].
7. Limits of the reporting and contested language politics
Sources document the multiple meanings but caution that social debates shape preferred terms — notably in sexual discourse where some communities reject "pegging" as heteronormative and favor alternatives; the supplied sources record that disagreement rather than a single authoritative verdict exists on terminology [5] [11]. No source in the provided set claims a single priority of senses; authoritative dictionaries and subject specialists simply list and exemplify them [2] [4] [1].