"Digraph", "trigraph" are both acceptable terms from the point of view of
linguistic terminology. Since "graph" is of Greek, not Latin origin, one
could suggest "polygraph" (in my opinion acceptable, though admittedly prone
to parody, being synonymous with "lie detector"!) or possibly "syngraph",
tetragraph (4), pentagraph (5), etc.
Best, SJ
**********************************************************
Seth Jerchower 420 Walnut Street
Public Services Librarian Philadelphia, PA
19106
Center For Judaic Studies Library Tel. (215) 238-1290 ext.
203
University of Pennsylvania Fax (215) 238-1540
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Ewell" <dewell@compuserve.com>
To: "Unicode List" <unicode@unicode.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2000 10:22 PM
Subject: Off-topic: digraphs and trigraphs
> Does anyone know of a commonly used or commonly accepted collective
> term for multi-character sequences (e.g. digraphs, trigraphs, etc.)?
> I'm thinking that the word "multigraph" would be appropriate, but I
> don't want to invent my own term if one already exists. (Besides, it
> sounds like an early '80s software package.)
>
> Along the same lines, would the term "quadrigraph" be appropriate for
> a four-character sequence?
>
> Thanks in advance for any tips. Please respond privately unless you
> feel your response may be of interest to the list at large.
>
> -Doug Ewell
> Fullerton, California
>
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