Four out of Five

Authors

Murray R. Pearce

Abstract

In Beyond Language (p. 279) Dmitri Borgmann says, "... (The) word AZOXY is a milestone of sorts in the field of wordplay: if we write the alphabet along the circumference of a circle ... then four of the five letters in AZOXY -- the letters X, Y, Z, A -- appear consecutively in our circular alphabet. Very few, indeed, are the five-letter words that can make such a claim!" Mr. Borgmann was referring to The American Illustrated Medical Dictionary where AZOXY is given as the first part of the two-word entry AZOXY COMPOUND. We can accept AZOXY as a word on its own merits, however, since Webster's Third New International (NI3) gives it sanction.

Recommended Citation

Pearce, Murray R. (1971) "Four out of Five," Word Ways: Vol. 4 : Iss. 1 , Article 4.
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol4/iss1/4