Zenzizenzizenzic
Yes that is in fact an actual word recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary.
If it helps at all, the word is supposed to be understood as broken up in the following way: zenzi-zenzi-zenzic. It's a bit easier to read and pronounce that way.
Of course, you probably want to know what the hell it's supposed to mean. Simply put, it's a number raised to the eighth power. So if you have x, the zenzizenzizenzic of x is x^8. It's a weird word with some whacky history behind it, which is why I love it so much.
I found the word back in the summer between 7th and 8th grade. Because I was a strange child, I figured it would be fun if I tried searching for some weird words online. I've always kind of liked lexicography, which I understand is insanely nerdy, but some part of me finds it incredibly interesting to learn about. I pretty quickly found this website called the Phrontistery, which boasted having the largest collection of insanely weird and archaic words in the English language. If you're ever bored one day, I'd encourage looking through it. You can find it by following the link here.
For about a week I was mesmerized by what this website had to offer. It was just word upon word of pure wackiness and specificity, and the no-life 7th-grade me couldn't get enough of it. This website introduced me to so much useless information. It has words that I still remember reading when I was in 7th grade. Things like 'millihelen' (a unit of beauty equivalent to the beauty necessary to launch one ship in your honor), 'arachibutyrophobia' (fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth), and 'interrobang' (a combination of a question mark and exclamation point), just to name a few. If you've ever read my email signature, this website is where I found 'eelogofusciouhippopokunurious,' which it identifies as a slang term for 'happy.'
Anyways, after an admittedly extended period of browsing words, I stumbled upon 'zenzizenzizenzic.' I was having a fair amount of trouble understanding how such a weird word could exist. So I looked it up on Wikipedia (because it's notable enough to have a Wikipedia page to itself) and found a history of mathematical notation.
Back in the 1500s, they didn't have actual notation for exponents, so if you wanted to say something like x^2, you could only say x-squared, not write it out with a two above it. And along comes this Welsh mathematician named Robert Recorde, who in 1557 came up with this system of denoting exponents. It's based on three words: zenzic, cubic, and sursolid. The zenzic of a number is its square (x^2), the cubic is, believe it or not, the cubic (x^3), and a sursolid is when you have a prime exponent (like x^5 or x^7).
And then he stopped there, because he figured those three words were all you needed to denote every single exponent. If you were to go down the line, x^2 is a zenzic, x^3 is a cubic, but what happens when you get a number like x^4? Recorde said that x^4 is just (x^2)^2, or x-squared squared. So what do you call that? A zenzizenzic. The zenzic of a zenzic. In a similar manner, you can represent other larger exponents. For a few examples, x^6 is a zenzicubic [(x^2)^3], x^10 is the zenzic of the first sursolid [(x^5)^2], and x^14 is the zenzic of the second sursolid [(x^7)^2]. It makes sense as a system, it's just...really confusing to read.
So that's the idea of the word zenzizenzizenzic. It's the square of a square of a square, or [(x^2)^2]^2. As Recorde himself said, it "doeth represent the square of squares squaredly." Zenzizenzizenzic is the longest result of this naming system that the OED recognizes as a word. However, due to the nature of the system, you could theoretically use longer forms of the word. If for some godforsaken reason you wanted to find x^32, you would have to use the zenzizenzizenzizenzizenzic. It just keeps going.
To be totally honest, I like the word zenzizenzizenzic just because of how whacky it is. It has the most Zs out of any other word, and the construction itself is incredibly messed up. It's also very fun to say. The word has always just stuck out to me as being interesting. I didn't realize there was so much history behind it until after the fact. But yeah, that's my favorite word. It makes a great party topic. And I'm sure the math teachers would absolutely love it if you used it in class.
If it helps at all, the word is supposed to be understood as broken up in the following way: zenzi-zenzi-zenzic. It's a bit easier to read and pronounce that way.
Of course, you probably want to know what the hell it's supposed to mean. Simply put, it's a number raised to the eighth power. So if you have x, the zenzizenzizenzic of x is x^8. It's a weird word with some whacky history behind it, which is why I love it so much.
I found the word back in the summer between 7th and 8th grade. Because I was a strange child, I figured it would be fun if I tried searching for some weird words online. I've always kind of liked lexicography, which I understand is insanely nerdy, but some part of me finds it incredibly interesting to learn about. I pretty quickly found this website called the Phrontistery, which boasted having the largest collection of insanely weird and archaic words in the English language. If you're ever bored one day, I'd encourage looking through it. You can find it by following the link here.
For about a week I was mesmerized by what this website had to offer. It was just word upon word of pure wackiness and specificity, and the no-life 7th-grade me couldn't get enough of it. This website introduced me to so much useless information. It has words that I still remember reading when I was in 7th grade. Things like 'millihelen' (a unit of beauty equivalent to the beauty necessary to launch one ship in your honor), 'arachibutyrophobia' (fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth), and 'interrobang' (a combination of a question mark and exclamation point), just to name a few. If you've ever read my email signature, this website is where I found 'eelogofusciouhippopokunurious,' which it identifies as a slang term for 'happy.'
Anyways, after an admittedly extended period of browsing words, I stumbled upon 'zenzizenzizenzic.' I was having a fair amount of trouble understanding how such a weird word could exist. So I looked it up on Wikipedia (because it's notable enough to have a Wikipedia page to itself) and found a history of mathematical notation.
Back in the 1500s, they didn't have actual notation for exponents, so if you wanted to say something like x^2, you could only say x-squared, not write it out with a two above it. And along comes this Welsh mathematician named Robert Recorde, who in 1557 came up with this system of denoting exponents. It's based on three words: zenzic, cubic, and sursolid. The zenzic of a number is its square (x^2), the cubic is, believe it or not, the cubic (x^3), and a sursolid is when you have a prime exponent (like x^5 or x^7).
And then he stopped there, because he figured those three words were all you needed to denote every single exponent. If you were to go down the line, x^2 is a zenzic, x^3 is a cubic, but what happens when you get a number like x^4? Recorde said that x^4 is just (x^2)^2, or x-squared squared. So what do you call that? A zenzizenzic. The zenzic of a zenzic. In a similar manner, you can represent other larger exponents. For a few examples, x^6 is a zenzicubic [(x^2)^3], x^10 is the zenzic of the first sursolid [(x^5)^2], and x^14 is the zenzic of the second sursolid [(x^7)^2]. It makes sense as a system, it's just...really confusing to read.
So that's the idea of the word zenzizenzizenzic. It's the square of a square of a square, or [(x^2)^2]^2. As Recorde himself said, it "doeth represent the square of squares squaredly." Zenzizenzizenzic is the longest result of this naming system that the OED recognizes as a word. However, due to the nature of the system, you could theoretically use longer forms of the word. If for some godforsaken reason you wanted to find x^32, you would have to use the zenzizenzizenzizenzizenzic. It just keeps going.
To be totally honest, I like the word zenzizenzizenzic just because of how whacky it is. It has the most Zs out of any other word, and the construction itself is incredibly messed up. It's also very fun to say. The word has always just stuck out to me as being interesting. I didn't realize there was so much history behind it until after the fact. But yeah, that's my favorite word. It makes a great party topic. And I'm sure the math teachers would absolutely love it if you used it in class.
I found your blog very entertaining and relatable (as a fellow nerd with no life). Your description of mathematical notation for exponents may have shifted my somewhat "square" perspective of solving problems. I'm sure Mr. Russell would also enjoy reading about your intrigues of the word, Zenzizenzizenzic.
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