Industrial Engineer · phase 12 of 16 · noun

Jog

Temporary command that runs the motor at a dedicated low speed for setup or positioning.

The Explain card

Plain English: Jog runs the motor at a fixed, usually slow, preset speed for as long as the jog input is held. Release it and the motor stops.
Example: A technician threads a web through a machine by tapping jog to inch the rolls forward. The machine moves a little each time and stops the moment the button is released.
Why it matters: Jog is for setup, threading and positioning by hand, and it bypasses the normal reference and the normal ramps. Because it is a maintained command with no seal in, it is also the safer way to move a machine while someone is near it.
Hook: Inch it forward, let go, it stops.

How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.

In a sentence

During conveyor alignment, the technician holds the Jog pushbutton while watching the motor shaft advance in small increments.

How it is built

Where it came from

Origin: English, probably a variant of the older verb shog, meaning to shake or jolt
Entered the language: 1570s
What changed: The sense moved from a physical push or shake to controlled machine movement and then to a labeled operating command.

How it is spelled

Pattern: One syllable with consonant-vowel-consonant spelling and a short o
Pattern: The final g doubles before vowel-initial suffixes, as in jogged and jogging

Spelled like

Broken into chunks

What it sits beside

Same subject

Same shape

motor operating commands

Phase 12: VFD Commands, References, and Stopping

Starting, referencing and stopping, including the several very different things a drive can mean by the word stop.