From hexa- + (itera)tion.
Formed from hexa- + iteration
Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs ‘six’
Proto-Hellenic *hwéks ‘six’
Ancient Greek ἕξ ‘six’
English hexa-
Proto-Indo-European *h₁íteros ‘other’
Proto-Italic *iteros
Latin iterum ‘again’
Latin iterō ‘to do a second time, repeat, renew’
Latin iterātiō ‘a repetition, iteration’
English iteration
The story
The word was coined by the English mathematician Reuben Goodstein (1912–1985).
Today it means
noun The arithmetic operation of repeated pentation.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / hexation
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