sedecuple

English

WOTD – 29 August 2011

Alternative forms

• sexdecuple

Etymology

First attested in 1744–1749; from the Latin sēdecuplus (“sixteenfold”); compare decuple.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: sē'dĕkyo͞oʹp(ə)l, IPA^(key): /ˌsiːdɛˈkjuːp(ə)l/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Adjective

sedecuple (not comparable)

1. (rare) Sixteenfold.
   1. Sixteen times as great or as numerous.
      • 1744–9, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz [aut.] and James Jurin [tr.], “Commercium Literarum” (1696) in Philoſophical Tranſactions of the Royal Society X (1756), page 184:

        If for duple we had ſubſtituted triple, quadruple, quintuple, &c. the action would have come out noncuple, ſedecuple, 25ple.

   2. (of a ratio) Sixteen-to-one.
      • 1965, Edward Grant [translator], “Algorismus proportionum”, in Isis‎^[1], volume LVI, translation of original by Nicole Oresme, Part I, page 333:

        As an example, let us take a ratio which is two-thirds of a quadruple. Since 2 is the numerator, we shall have one-third of a quadruple ratio squared, namely a sedecuple ratio.

      • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:sedecuple.
   3. Comprising sixteen repeated elements.
      • 1967, Charles P. Poole, Electron Spin Resonance‎^[2], page 544:

        Gozzini and Iannuzzi (1960) proposed the use of sixteen microwave spectrometer systems connected in parallel and fed by the same source. It is interesting to note that this sedecuple arrangement did not burgeon forth from an opulent American laboratory.

Verb

sedecuple (third-person singular simple present sedecuples, present participle sedecupling, simple past and past participle sedecupled)

1. (rare, transitive or intransitive) To increase by a factor of sixteen.