# 1/2=Hemi, 1/10=Deci, 1/8=? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 21, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416 "2005-04-21T14:25:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/1 "2005-04-21T14:25:45Z")
I have my eye on an antique map-like thing at a dusty little antique store in my hometown. It’s not exacly a map, though, since it’s not a flat representation of the Earth, but rather a slice of a globe. Pondering what to call it, I recalled that it is almost an eighth of a globe (it dosen’t go all the way to the pole, though). Trying to come up with a name for it, I thught to combine a fractional prefix with -sphere (a la ‘hemisphere’). If it were a full quarter of a hemisphere, what would the best name be for it? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/2 "2005-04-21T14:29:35Z")
Analagous to “hemidemisemiquaver” (that’s a 64th note to Americans, or an 8th of a quaver), what amout “demisemihemisphere”? ---
**Author:** ![Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fromage_A_Trois)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/3 "2005-04-21T14:35:15Z")
Octi? ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/4 "2005-04-21T14:37:34Z")
“Hemidemisemi-” isn’t really a prefix of its own; it’s a compounding of three prefixes that mean ‘half’ from Greek, French and Latin. It probably arose because there was no more efficient way to indicate ‘one eighth’. An _octant_ is an eighth of a circle; it’s surprising there’s no term for an eighth of a sphere. But maybe you could use ‘octant’ as a base instead of ‘hemisphere’, and coin a term like ‘steroctant’, analogous to ‘radian’ (a unit of angle on a circle) and ‘steradian’ (a unit of angle on a sphere). ---
**Author:** ![Eurograff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Eurograff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eurograff)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/5 "2005-04-21T14:57:22Z")
According to a Google search, some people seem to use ‘quadrasphere’ to denote one fourth of Earth, which could even be the proper usage, as quadrans means, well, quarter. Following this model, maybe octasphere or octosphere would work. Though I have a feeling that those would read more like ‘eight spheres’. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/6 "2005-04-22T06:45:28Z")
Or semiquadrasphere, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![TennesseeTime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/13edae/32.png) [@TennesseeTime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TennesseeTime)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/7 "2011-08-23T09:32:02Z")
Although there does not appear to be an English term for a one-eighth-sphere, please allow me to suggest reverting to our Latin roots: 1/8 in Latin = Octavus So the logical latin derivative for 1/8 of a sphere would be Octavusphere. 🆒And it even has a nice ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/8 "2011-08-23T16:07:36Z")
> [@TennesseeTime](#): > > Although there does not appear to be an English term for a one-eighth-sphere, please allow me to suggest reverting to our Latin roots: > > 1/8 in Latin = Octavus > > So the logical latin derivative for 1/8 of a sphere would be Octavusphere. See also: Octoroon. ---
**Author:** ![YourAdHere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/65b543/32.png) [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/9 "2011-08-23T16:54:38Z")
I thought octavus was eighth as in the ordinal number. There’s also Octans for an octant as opposed to a quadrant. ---
**Author:** ![YourAdHere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/65b543/32.png) [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/10 "2011-08-23T16:57:10Z")
Octava pars is what my dictionary lists for one eighth, fwiw. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/11 "2011-08-23T20:06:52Z")
An octant isn’t specifically one eighth of a circle; it’s one eighth of _anything_. I’d have no hesitation referring to “an octant of a globe”, and I doubt there’d be any confusion about what’s meant. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/12 "2011-08-23T20:24:48Z")
> [@YourAdHere](#): > > I thought octavus was eighth as in the ordinal number. There’s also Octans for an octant as opposed to a quadrant. I have not seen it explicitly stated in any actual grammar, but I glean from dictionaries that not unlike the English suffix “-th”, the Latin ordinal numerals also express part-to-whole ratio. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/13 "2011-08-23T21:29:43Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > “hemidemisemiquaver” (that’s a 64th note to Americans, or an 8th of a quaver) In eighth(?) grade, my friend Dean had a pocket dictionary (actually small enough to fit in a suit coat inner pocket easily - so more of a ‘checkbook’ dictionary). For some reason, he was reading it (Dean was not particularly academically inclined), and, even stranger - it had hemidemisemiquaver in it. I don’t think it was in the classroom dictionary, leading Dean to proclaim his dictionary the superior volume (even with the teeny-tiny type, I’d be surprised if it had 1000 words in it). Sr. Amalia was not amused - I think he actually lost points on an English assignment for shoehorning it into a paper. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-hemi-1-10-deci-1-8/300416/14 "2011-08-23T23:11:01Z")
Dubloon? You know, “Pieces of Eight.”