perpetuum mobile
/pəːˌpɛtjʊəm ˈməʊbɪleɪ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.65 in modern English
25
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
5
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Etymology
From Latin perpetuum (neutral inflection of perpetuus “perpetual”) + Latin mōbile (neutrum of mōbilis “mobile, moving”), used together as a noun, thus literally meaning “perpetual mover”. Although often said to literally mean “perpetual motion”, the latter in Latin is mōtus perpetuus. A perpetuum mobile is a device that exhibits perpetual motion.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: perpetuum
Inflected Forms
perpetua mobilia (plural)