boustrophedonic

9.9

Writing in lines that go left to right then right to left on the next line

adjective
/ˌbuːstrəˈfiːdɪk/

Specialized

: boustrofedónico

Some early alphabets used the boustrophedonic style instead of the more familiar left-to-right or right-to-left formats.

Examples

The manuscript displayed boustrophedonic writing, with each line reversing direction from the one above.
Ancient Greek inscriptions were sometimes written in a boustrophedonic manner, making them challenging to read.
The ancient manuscript was written in a boustrophedonic style.
Is this text boustrophedonic?
The manuscript displayed boustrophedonic writing, with each line reversing direction from the one above.
Ancient Greek inscriptions were sometimes written in a boustrophedonic manner, making them challenging to read.
Some early alphabets used the boustrophedonic style instead of the more familiar left-to-right or right-to-left formats.

Surface Forms

boustrophedonic positive

Morphology

boustrophedonic = boustrophedon (semi-transparent) = boustrophedon + ic

The adjective is a straightforward formation from the noun 'boustrophedon' by adding the productive suffix '-ic'.

Etymology

Boustrophedonic comes from Greek parts bous ('ox') and strophe ('turn'). Think of an ox plowing a field, moving one way on one row and the other way on the next, so boustrophedonic describes writing where each line reverses direction from the one above.