Search Results for: in a word

Root Words

Square roots:

EIGHTY-ONE has 9 letters.

ONE HUNDRED has 10 letters.

FIVE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SIX has 24 letters.

Cube roots:

THIRTY-NINE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED FOUR has 34 letters.

SIXTY-EIGHT THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE has 41 letters.

ONE MILLION and ONE BILLION have 10 letters each, making them a sixth root and (in the United States) a ninth root word.

(Dave Morice, “Kickshaws,” Word Ways 30:2 [May 1997], 129-141.)

10/26/2020 UPDATE: Reader Hans Havermann has found many more, including this alarming specimen:

341183 = ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-NINE SENONAGINTILLION, FIVE HUNDRED FIVE QUINONAGINTILLION, SEVENTY-SEVEN QUATTUORNONAGINTILLION, FIFTY-ONE TRENONAGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED SEVENTY DUONONAGINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY-FOUR UNONAGINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED THIRTY-EIGHT NONAGINTILLION, SIX HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX NOVOCTOGINTILLION, TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY OCTOCTOGINTILLION, TWO HUNDRED NINETY-EIGHT SEPTENOCTOGINTILLION, SIX HUNDRED FORTY-SEVEN SEXOCTOGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED FORTY-EIGHT QUINTOCTOGINTILLION, FOUR HUNDRED FOUR QUATTUOROCTOGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX TRESOCTOGINTILLION, SIX HUNDRED THIRTEEN DUOOCTOGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY-THREE UNOCTOGINTILLION, NINE OCTOGINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED SIXTY-FIVE NOVEMSEPTUAGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED SIXTY-SEVEN OCTOSEPTUAGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE SEPTENSEPTUAGINTILLION, NINE HUNDRED SEVENTY-TWO SESEPTUAGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED SEVENTY-EIGHT QUINSEPTUAGINTILLION, FIFTY-NINE QUATTUORSEPTUAGINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED SIX TRESEPTUAGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED FIFTEEN DUOSEPTUAGINTILLION, TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-ONE UNSEPTUAGINTILLION, FOUR HUNDRED EIGHT SEPTUAGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE NOVEMSEXAGINTILLION, FOUR HUNDRED EIGHTY-SIX OCTOSEXAGINTILLION, TWELVE SEPTENSEXAGINTILLION, TWO HUNDRED FORTY-SIX SESEXAGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED EIGHTY-FIVE QUINSEXAGINTILLION, TWO HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX QUATTUORSEXAGINTILLION, FOUR HUNDRED NINETY-TWO TRESEXAGINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED FORTY-THREE DUOSEXAGINTILLION, FIVE HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE UNSEXAGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED FORTY-ONE SEXAGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE NOVEMQUINQUAGINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED FORTY-SIX OCTOQUINQUAGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-ONE SEPTENQUINQUAGINTILLION, NINE HUNDRED THIRTY-TWO SEXQUINQUAGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-SIX QUINQUINQUAGINTILLION, FOUR HUNDRED THREE QUATTUORQUINQUAGINTILLION, THIRTY-TWO TRESQUINQUAGINTILLION, SIX HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR DUOQUINQUAGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED FORTY-SIX UNQUINQUAGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE QUINQUAGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED TWO NOVEMQUADRAGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED FIFTY-EIGHT OCTOQUADRAGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-NINE SEPTENQUADRAGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX SEXQUADRAGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR QUINQUADRAGINTILLION, NINE HUNDRED FIFTY-FOUR QUATTUORQUADRAGINTILLION, NINE HUNDRED ELEVEN TRESQUADRAGINTILLION, TWO HUNDRED FIFTEEN DUOQUADRAGINTILLION, NINE HUNDRED SIXTY-SIX UNQUADRAGINTILLION, NINE HUNDRED TWELVE QUADRAGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED THREE NOVEMTRIGINTILLION, SIX HUNDRED SIXTY-EIGHT OCTOTRIGINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED SIXTY-THREE SEPTRIGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-THREE SEXTRIGINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED NINETY-SIX QUINTRIGINTILLION, NINETY QUATTUORTRIGINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED TRESTRIGINTILLION, FIVE HUNDRED EIGHTY-SIX DUOTRIGINTILLION, ONE HUNDRED FORTY-ONE UNTRIGINTILLION, SIX HUNDRED FIFTY-FOUR TRIGINTILLION, SIX HUNDRED EIGHT NOVEMVIGINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE OCTOVIGINTILLION, SIX HUNDRED FOURTEEN SEPTENVIGINTILLION, THREE HUNDRED FOUR SEXVIGINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED NINETY-FIVE QUINVIGINTILLION, SIX HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR QUATTUORVIGINTILLION, THREE HUNDRED SIXTY-FIVE TREVIGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED NINETY-SEVEN DUOVIGINTILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED SEVENTEEN UNVIGINTILLION, FIVE HUNDRED EIGHTY-TWO VIGINTILLION, FOUR HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE NOVEMDECILLION, FOUR OCTODECILLION, SIX HUNDRED FORTY-FIVE SEPTENDECILLION, NINE HUNDRED SEVEN SEXDECILLION, FOUR HUNDRED EIGHTY QUINDECILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY-SEVEN QUATTUORDECILLION, ONE HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR TREDECILLION, TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE DUODECILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED EIGHTY-ONE UNDECILLION, SIX HUNDRED SEVEN DECILLION, THREE HUNDRED FIFTY-TWO NONILLION, FIVE HUNDRED FORTY-THREE OCTILLION, FOUR HUNDRED NINE SEPTILLION, TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY-NINE SEXTILLION, ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-EIGHT QUINTILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED SEVENTY-SIX QUADRILLION, FORTY-EIGHT TRILLION, THREE HUNDRED NINETY-FOUR BILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED SEVENTY-ONE MILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED EIGHT THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED THIRTY-ONE

The name of that number contains 3,411 letters.

(Thanks, Hans.)

| Language · Science & Math

An Odd Word

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ha_ha_wall_diagram.jpg
Image: Wikimedia Commons

In E.M. Forster’s 1907 novel The Longest Journey, the description of the country estate Cadover contains a surprising term:

The lawn ended in a Ha-ha (‘Ha! ha! who shall regard it?’), and thence the bare land sloped down into the village.

A ha-ha is indeed the term for a sort of buried wall adjoined by a sloping ditch — it will keep deer out of your garden without blocking the view. But how it came by that name seems uncertain. Possibly it’s a shortened form of “half and half” (half wall, half ditch), and possibly it’s named for the cries of its observers — the earliest usage in the Oxford English Dictionary is John James’ 1712 translation of Antoine-Joseph Dézallier d’Argenville’s Theory and Practice of Gardening — he refers to “a large and deep Ditch at the Foot.., which surprizes..and makes one cry, Ah! Ah! from whence it takes its Name.”

In Terry Pratchett’s novel Men at Arms, a ha-ha is accidentally specified to be 50 feet deep. The result is called a hoho, and it claims the lives of three gardeners. In Snuff, two characters go for a walk in the countryside and “navigate their way around the ha-ha, keep their distance from the ho-ho and completely ignore the he-he.”

| Language

Moving Words

In October 1996, Parade magazine published the results of a vanity license plate contest that received more than 7,000 entries. Here are the 10 winning plates:

  1. IRIGHTI
  2. RUD14ME?
  3. HAHAHAHA
  4. XQQSME
  5. IM12XL
  6. ULIV1S
  7. AXN28D+
  8. VAN GO
  9. H2OUUP-2
  10. TI-3VOM

What are their meanings?

Click for Answer
| Language

Wooden Words

https://www.katieholten.com/public-realm/#/new-york-city-tree-alphabet/

Artist Katie Holten has created a New York City Tree Alphabet, a Latin alphabet in which each letter is assigned a drawing of an existing city tree or one that will be planted as a result of the changing climate. There’s a free font that you can play with here and download here.

Holten had planned to plant messages around the city using real trees last spring, and invited people to make suggestions, though I don’t know which were ultimately chosen. “Right now, we’re leaving it completely wide open, so we’ve no idea what messages we’ll be planting,” she told Fast Company in March. “I’m excited to see what people send us. People have been suggesting words like ‘Dream,’ ‘Hope,’ and ‘Peace.’ But we’re also receiving longer messages, love letters, poems, and short stories. We’re curious to see how we could translate a long text into a grove of planted trees. It’s an exciting challenge and we can make up the rules as we go along, so anything could happen.”

(Via MetaFilter.)

| Art · Language

A New Word

In 1940 H.L. Mencken received a letter from a woman who called herself Georgia Southern. She said her profession was known as strip teasing, and she wondered whether Mencken could provide “a new and more palatable word to describe this art.” He wrote back:

It might be a good idea to relate strip teasing in some way or other to the associated zoological phenomenon of molting. Thus the word moltician comes to mind, but it must be rejected because of its likeness to mortician.

A resort to the scientific name for molting, which is ecdysis, produces both ecdysist and ecdysiast. Then there are suggestions in the names of some of the creatures which practice molting. The scientific name for the common crab is Callinectes hastatus, which produces callinectian. Again there is a family of lizards called the Geckonidae, and their name produces gecko.

She went with ecdysiast. Mencken notes that the popular press consulted scholars S.I. Hayakawa, who “seemingly demurred on the incredible ground that he had never seen a strip teaser in action,” and Stuart Chase, who made no reply, “so I won by a sort of forfeit.” The British correspondent for United Press cabled the new word to England, where it was briefly hoped that it might open the way to lifting a ban on strip teasing; that went nowhere, but “the inevitable Association of Ecdysiasts soon appeared in the United States.”

(“Euphemisms,” from Mencken’s The American Language, 1947.)

| Language

The “Un-Word”

Every year since 1991, a panel of German linguists has identified a term that violates human rights or infringes democratic principles:

1991: ausländerfrei (“free of foreigners”)
1992: ethnische Säuberung (“ethnic cleansing”)
1996: Rentnerschwemme (“flood of senior/retired citizens”)
1999: Kollateralschaden (“collateral damage”)
2005: Entlassungsproduktivität (“layoff productivity,” a surge in productivity induced by laying off workers)
2008: notleidende Banken (“suffering/needy banks”)
2014: Lügenpresse (“lying press”)
2019: Klimahysterie (“climate hysteria”)

The terms are usually German, but not always. In 1994 the word was peanuts, after Deutsche Bank’s chairman used that term to refer to 50 million Deutsche Marks.

Wikipedia has the whole list.

| Language · Society

What Needs More Words?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Blake_-_William_Shakespeare_-_Manchester_City_Gallery_-_Tempera_on_canvas_c_1800.jpg

Ecologists often have to estimate the number of unseen species in an ecosystem: If I count x species of butterfly during my time on an island, how many species probably live there that I did not see? In 1975, Stanford statisticians Bradley Efron and Ronald Thisted applied the same question to the works of William Shakespeare: If we take the Bard’s existing works as a sample, what can we infer about the size of his total vocabulary?

Shakespeare’s known works comprise 884,647 words, which fall into 31,534 “types,” or distinguishable arrangements of letters. Efron and Thisted applied two approaches and found that they produced the same estimate: If a new cache of the playwright’s works were discovered today, equal in size to the old, it would likely contain about 11,460 new word types, with an expected error of less than 150.

So how many word types altogether did Shakespeare know? No upper bound is possible, but they established a lower bound of 35,000 beyond the 31,534 already used — in other words, to write the works that we know of, he likely used less than half his total vocabulary.

(Bradley Efron and Ronald Thisted, “Estimating the Number of Unseen Species: How Many Words Did Shakespeare Know?”, Biometrika 63:3 [1976], 435-447.) (Thanks, Brent.)

| Literature · Science & Math

Cross Words

https://www.flickr.com/photos/waffleboy/25098716017
Image: Flickr

Binghamton University English professor Michael Sharp has been blogging about the New York Times crossword puzzle every day since 2006 under the name Rex Parker. He downloads each puzzle when it becomes available at 10 p.m. and typically solves it in 3-10 minutes.

His blog, Rex Parker Does the NY Times Crossword Puzzle, has become so popular that there’s now a metric website that analyzes his opinions:

  • “Rex doesn’t like Sundays”
  • “Rex doesn’t like April”
  • “Rex doesn’t like the year 2017”

“It’s like a little present,” he told the Chronicle of Higher Education last year. “You have no idea what’s in there. And if you’re lucky, something weird or strange or funny is in there. And you get to unwrap this little present every day that will make your brain light up in weird ways if it’s done right.”

(Thanks, Laura.)

| Entertainment

Words to Remember

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sans_Forgetica_font_sample.jpg

Designed by a multidisciplinary team at Melbourne’s RMIT University, Sans Forgetica is a typeface that’s intended to reduce legibility, on the theory that the “desirable difficulty” of reading it will result in deeper processing and, ultimately, better retention.

The back-slanted, incomplete letters form a “simple puzzle” for the reader, RMIT lecturer Stephen Banham told the Washington Post last October. “It should be difficult to read but not too difficult. In demanding this additional act, memory is more likely to be triggered.”

The team say they’ve tested the font on university students and found that “Sans Forgetica broke just enough design principles without becoming too illegible and aided memory retention.” You can try it yourself — they’re offering a free download and a Chrome extension.

| Language · Science & Math

500 Entertaining Words

The 12th edition of The Chambers Dictionary, published in 2011, highlighted about 500 words that the editors considered especially entertaining. For the 13th edition, in 2014, they chose to remove the highlighting but inadvertently removed the entries entirely.

The missing entries have since been reinstated, but in the interval the publishers supplied a list of the missing words. Here it is.

(Thanks, Chris.)

| Language