Link Centre Dictionary

Tatum

ta·tum

UK/ˈteɪtəm/ US/ˈtætəm/ uncommon

noun

1.

United States biochemist who discovered how genes act by regulating definite chemical events (1909-1975)

2.

United States jazz pianist who was almost completely blind; his innovations influenced many other jazz musicians (1910-1956)

Origin

Coined by American computer scientist Jeffrey A. Bilmes in 1993, initially as a blend of temporal + atom, but deliberately changed from tatom to tatum to honor master jazz pianist Art Tatum, who was known for his exceptional celerity.

Related words

Broader terms

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.