Design AtlasIn Greek the pattern is called "meander," after the Maeander river that winds through Anatolia in present-day Turkey. It appears on Greek pottery from the Geometric period (roughly 900–700 BCE) onward, spread widely into Greco-Roman architectural friezes, and returned to fashion during the neoclassical revival.
The one rule that defines its structure: a single line never crosses itself. It folds only at right angles and winds like a maze, but it is always one unbroken path. That's the fundamental difference from fill-based patterns like checkerboard or houndstooth.
Traditionally it decorated a border, not a whole surface. In SVG, the zigzag path is drawn with straight coordinates alone (M/L commands) inside a <pattern>, with the start and end points matched so the line picks up at exactly the same height where one tile meets the next.
When to use
Use for border/frame decoration, classic or heritage branding, and sports-uniform trim. Filling a whole surface with it reads as a busy maze — it works best kept as a thin band.