Link Centre Dictionary

acrostic

ac·ros·tic

UK/əˈkɹɒstɪk/ US/əˈkɹɔstɪk/ uncommon

noun

1.

a puzzle where you fill a square grid with words reading the same down as across

Synonyms
2.

verse in which certain letters such as the first in each line form a word or message

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French acrostiche, acrostique (“acrostic”) (modern French acrostiche), and its etymon Late Latin acrostichis, from Ancient Greek ἀκροστιχίς (akrostikhís), from ἄκρο- (ákro-, prefix indicating, among other things, the extremity or tip of something) + στῐ́χος (stĭ́khos, “row or file of soldiers; line of poetry, verse”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ- (“to climb, go”)).

Phrases

  • double acrostic
  • triple acrostic

Related words

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.