Algorithm (noun)
al-go-ri-thm
an ordered set of instructions applied repeatedly to data to solve a problem or accomplish a task.
Algorithm is a variant of algorism and ultimately comes from Arabic al-Khwārizmī, which refers to the 9th-century mathematician Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī. In this name, Khwārizm refers to an area of Central Asia now divided between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Algorism became algorithm because of the influence of Ancient Greek arithmós, “number,” as in arithmetic. Algorithm was first recorded in English in the 1690s.
Example sentences
“You may think of them as complex instructions but if you’ve made a meal from a recipe then you’ve followed an algorithm.”
Wonky (adj) won-kee Not straight or balanced, off kilter. First recorded in 1915–20; perhaps variant of dialectal wanky, equivalent to wank(le) ( Middle English wankel, Old English wancol. (more…)
