checkered

the word 'checkered' originates from the game of chess. the old french term 'eschec', meaning 'check' or the king in peril, passed into english as 'check'. this term also gave its name to the chessboard itself, known for its distinctive alternating pattern of light and dark squares. by the 14th century, the pattern of a chessboard was referred to as 'checked'. the suffix '-ered', a variant of '-ed', was added to form an adjective, literally meaning 'having a pattern like a chessboard'. this concrete visual meaning was later extended metaphorically to describe a history or career with alternating periods of good and bad fortune, evoking the contrasting squares of the board.

Structure: check + ered check (from middle english 'chek', from old french 'eschec', from persian 'shāh', meaning 'king' in chess, here used in the sense of a chessboard pattern); ered (a variant of the english past participle suffix '-ed', used to form adjectives meaning 'having the quality of')