phugoid
/ˈfjuˌɡɔɪd/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of the motion of an aircraft, missile, or other flying object: continuously oscillating in a vertical plane due to the object pitching up and climbing, thus slowing down; then pitching down and descending, thus speeding up.
noun
The motion of an aircraft, missile, or other flying object continuously oscillating in a vertical plane due to the object pitching up and climbing, thus slowing down; then pitching down and descending, thus speeding up.
Example Sentences
- "The Phugoid theory deals with the longitudinal stability, and the form and equations of the flight path of an aerodone."
- "As the amplitude of the phugoid is increased beyond the limits of the semicircle, there is a rapid shortening of the time period as shown by the manner in which the time curve falls away almost immediately after that critical form of flight path is passed. […] [I]f we select phugoids of greater and greater velocity, for a given aerodone the form of the tumbler curve approximates more and more closely to a circle of radius #61;2H#95;n."
- "As well as physical debris, the report drew on recent analysis by Australian defense scientists of burst frequency signals from Flight 370 to satellites that indicated the aircraft had been descending fast, likely in an automated series of swooping dives called fugoids."
Etymology
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Ancient Greek φῠγή (phŭgḗ, “fleeing, flight; escape; retreat”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg- (“to flee”)) + English -oid (“suffix meaning ‘having the likeness of, resembling’, forming adjectives and nouns”). The word was coined by the British aerodynamicist and engineer Frederick W. Lanchester (1868–1946) in his book Aerodonetics (1908), the author mistaking the meaning of φῠγή (phŭgḗ) to be “flight” in the sense of “the act of flying”: see the quotations. The noun is derived from the adjective.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *bʰewg-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfjuˌɡɔɪd/
- British English: /ˈfjuːɡɔɪd/