xyzzy

English

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xyzzy

/ˈzɪzi/

Rhymes with -ɪzi

Where it comes from

From the seminal text adventure game Adventure (c.1975), where it served as a "magic word"; possibly originated as a mnemonic for the subscripts of the cross product in mathematics.

noun

uncountable Used as a placeholder word or metasyntactic variable. Especially bad are "magic words" from computer games, such as xyzzy. These magic words look secret and unguessable, but in fact they are widely known.

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MLA

"xyzzy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/xyzzy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

xyzzy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/xyzzy

Chicago

"xyzzy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/xyzzy.

BibTeX

@misc{xyzzy_2026,
  title = {xyzzy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/xyzzy},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}