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lemniscate

/lɛmˈnɪskɪt/
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Other forms: lemniscates

If a mathematician uses the word lemniscate, they're just using fancy math jargon to mean "shape of a sideways figure eight."

When you write out the number eight and turn it on its side like an infinity symbol, it's a lemniscate. Mathematicians use the word for algebraic curves that take that exact shape, two symmetrical loops meeting at a center point. If you imagine a length of string in the form of a sideways 8, it makes sense that lemniscate comes from the Late Latin lemniscus, "a ribbon" and its Greek root lēmniskos, "a woolen ribbon."

Definitions of lemniscate
  1. noun
    (geometry) a figure shaped like the number 8 sideways (∞), also referred to as the infinity symbol
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