English Explanatory Dictionary

magic square

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A palindromic square word arrangement, usually in the form of a magic amulet.
  2. An n-by-n arrangement of n² numbers such that the numbers in each row, in each column and along both diagonals all have the same sum.

Pronunciation

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-magic square.wav

Word forms

magic square magic squares

Etymology

As magical square by 1670 and magic square by 1701 (see Citations). Calque of French quarré magique or Latin quadratum magicum. Magic refers to its original function as a talisman.

Related words

magic constant bimagic cube diabolic square heterosquare Lo Shu square magic circle magic cube magic cylinder magic hexagon magic hypercube magic series magic sphere magic star magic tesseract multimagic cube pantriagonal magic cube perfect magic cube satanic square semiperfect magic cube simple magic cube sudoku trimagic cube

Derived words

alphamagic square antimagic square bimagic square geomagic square most-perfect magic square multimagic square pandiagonal magic square prime reciprocal magic square trimagic square
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