Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Zugzwang

Zugzwang \TSOOK-tsvahng\ , noun;
1. A situation in which a player is limited to moves that have a damaging effect

At first glance this work definitely looks Asian in origin. But...surprise! It's German.

It's a chess term that is first attested in 1904. It's a combination of zug + zwang ("move" + "compulsion, obligation").

Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Tuesday, July 19
Etymologies come from the Oxford English Dictionary and/or Etymonline.com

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