ProbableNamed from the place
Tower of Hanoi
noun · first attested 1883
French puzzle, Vietnamese name, and a legend set in an Indian temple.
A puzzle in which graded disks are moved between three pegs, one at a time.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- ProbableThe conventional story is likely, with caveats.
- Attested
- 1883
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Hanoi
- In English
Tower of Hanoi
Édouard Lucas published the puzzle in 1883 under an anagrammatic pen name, selling it with a tale about priests at Benares moving sixty-four golden disks. Why he chose Hanoi is not recorded, though France was then deep in its campaign to take Tonkin.
Vietnam
All 2 entries