thrackle

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noun

An embedding of a graph in the plane, such that each edge is a Jordan arc and every pair of edges meet once.

Scrabble 17
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Meanings

nounthrackle (plural thrackles)

plural thrackles

  1. graph theoryAn embedding of a graph in the plane, such that each edge is a Jordan arc and every pair of edges meet once.

    We prove that a thrackle drawing containing a standard musquash (standard n-gonal thrackle) cannot contain any other cycle of length three or five.

    2016, Grace Misereh, Yuri Nikolayevsky, “Thrackles containing a standard musquash”, in arXiv

Origin

Scots term for a fouled fishing line, which Conway heard when visiting Scotland.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

thrackle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thrackle

MLA

“thrackle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thrackle. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thrackle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thrackle.

Source: thrackle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.