boustrophedon
/ˌbuːstɹəˈfiːdən/noun, adjective, adverb
boustrophedon is spelled B-O-U-S-T-R-O-P-H-E-D-O-N: 13 letters. It appears about once in every 71 million words in written English, the 265,644th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, boustrophedon means “Text written such that its direction alternates on each line, resulting in a continuous stream of characters spanning multiple lines; frequently also…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of boustrophedon is boustrophedons.
How many letters and syllables are in boustrophedon?
| Letters | 13: B-O-U-S-T-R-O-P-H-E-D-O-N |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 71 million words; the 265,644th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is boustrophedon?
Boustrophedon appears about once in every 71 million words in written English, the 265,644th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce boustrophedon?
- /ˌbuːstɹəˈfiːdən/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-boustrophedon.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of boustrophedon
- boustrophedons plural
- bustrophedon
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does boustrophedon mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
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.
adjective
- 1
Synonym of boustrophedonic (“written as a boustrophedon”).
adverb
- 1
rareSynonym of boustrophedonically (“as a boustrophedon or in a boustrophedonic manner”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Boustrophedon in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense text written such that its direction alternates on each line:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | boustrophédon |
| German | Bustrophedon, Boustrophedon |
| Portuguese | bustrofédon |
| Spanish | bustrófedon, bustrofedon, bustrofedón |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.