Skip to content

Word square

word_square · letter · validated

A grid of words of equal length reading the same across as down, so that row and column of the same index are identical. Verifying that the rows are words needs a lexicon, which is why this entry waits on one.

Provenance

  • Source: Traditional; the Sator square is attested at Pompeii before 79 AD
  • Attribution: traditional — classical or folk; no single origin to name
  • Checkability: self — decidable from the text and its parameters alone
  • Attested: codified — formulated as a rule by a tradition rather than declared by an author

Details

  • Kind: restrictive
  • Languages: en, de, fr
  • Requires: tokens, lexicon.words
  • Deterministic: yes
  • In other languages: Wortquadrat (de), Carré de mots (fr)

Prompt hint

Build a square of words that reads the same across each row as down each column.

Examples

heart-ember-abuse-resin-trend

en — this text satisfies the procedure.

heart
ember
abuse
resin
trend

Source: Traditional; a classic five-by-five word square

symmetric-but-not-words

en — this text does not satisfy the procedure.

sator
arepo
tenet
opera
rotas

Source: constructed counterexample; the Sator square passes sator_square but its rows are not English words

ja-an

de — this text satisfies the procedure.

ja
an

Source: constructed example; ja and an are both words the lexicon knows, verified with is_word

ja-ja-not-symmetric

de — this text does not satisfy the procedure.

ja
ja

Source: constructed counterexample; repeating the same row breaks the row/column symmetry

mer-eau-rue

fr — this text satisfies the procedure.

mer
eau
rue

Source: constructed example; mer, eau and rue are all words the lexicon knows, and the square reads the same down as across

mer-repetee

fr — this text does not satisfy the procedure.

mer
mer
mer

Source: constructed counterexample; repeating the same row breaks the row/column symmetry