bustrophedon
German, adjective
bustrophedon is spelled B-U-S-T-R-O-P-H-E-D-O-N (12 letters) and appears about once in every 85 million words in written German, the 579,518th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bustrophedon is a German adjective meaning “boustrophedonic (written as a boustrophedon, such that the text directionality alternates on each line, resulting in a continuous stream of…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Bustrophedon is a different word: “boustrophedon (text written such that its direction alternates on…”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “die Schreibrichtung von Zeile zu Zeile wechselnd”.
What does bustrophedon mean in English?
adjective
- 1
boustrophedonic (written as a boustrophedon, such that the text directionality alternates on each line, resulting in a continuous stream of characters spanning multiple lines)
noun
- 1
neuterboustrophedon (text written such that its direction alternates on each line, resulting in a continuous stream of characters spanning multiple lines; frequently also involving the corresponding alternation of letter directionality using mirrored letters, indicating the direction of the text at any given point)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. in einem Text von Zeile zu Zeile wechselnde Schriftrichtung von links nach rechts beziehungsweise umgekehrt
adjective: 1. die Schreibrichtung von Zeile zu Zeile wechselnd
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of bustrophedon
- bustrophedoner masculine nominative singular
- bustrophedone feminine nominative singular
- bustrophedones neuter nominative singular
- bustrophedonen genitive masculine singular
- bustrophedonem dative masculine singular
- der bustrophedone definite includes-article masculine
- die bustrophedone definite feminine includes-article
- das bustrophedone definite includes-article neuter
- die bustrophedonen definite includes-article nominative
- des bustrophedonen definite genitive includes-article
- der bustrophedonen definite feminine genitive
- dem bustrophedonen dative definite includes-article
- den bustrophedonen dative definite includes-article
- Boustrophedon alternative
- Bustrophedons genitive singular
- boustrophedon alternative
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to bustrophedon
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is bustrophedon in German?
bustrophedon appears about once in every 85 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).