Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hofstadter's law

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.31 in modern English

Syllables: hof-s-tadter's law
IPA

24

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

3

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

The self-referential adage that a task always takes longer than expected, even when Hofstadter's law is taken into account.

Etymology

Named after Douglas Hofstadter (1945–), who introduced it in his 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.

Questions

What does hofstadter's law mean?: The self-referential adage that a task always takes longer than expected, even when Hofstadter's law is taken into account.
Where does hofstadter's law come from?: Named after Douglas Hofstadter (1945–), who introduced it in his 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.

How to pronounce hofstadter's law

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “hofstadter's law”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “hofstadter's law”.
Repeat and practice — Say “hofstadter's law” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.