Zzxjoanw

Fictional Maori drum or fife, from author Rupert Hughes' otherwise nonfiction work The Musical Guide (1903). Included at the end of the dictionary section as joke, or perhaps some sort of copyright trap. It's probably a joke, since it is pronounced "shaw," as in the dismissive term "pshaw," and the third meaning is "conclusion," an appropriate meaning of a dictionary's last word!

It appears as a drum in the novel Earth by David Brin, 2009.

And who's this Joan, anyway?

External Links

• The Musical Guide, 1903
• Entry in The Painted Word: A Treasure Chest of Remarkable Words and Their Origins by Phil Cousineau
• Philip M. Cohen "What's the Good Word?" Word Ways, November 1976