Etymology

potrzebie

P3O1T1R1Z10E1B3I1E1

Today it means: A fictional unit of length defined as the thickness of issue #26 (November 1955) of Mad Magazine, or approximately 2.26 millimetres. Full definition →

Polish potrzeba
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The story

  1. Polish · derived frompotrzeba
  2. English todaypotrzebie

From a case form of Polish potrzeba, adopted as a catchphrase by Mad magazine in the 1950s, and applied to a system of measurement by American computer scientist Donald Knuth (then a high-schooler).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.