zoetrope

English

A modern replica of a Victorian zoetrope.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ζωή (zōḗ, “life”) +‎ -trope. Coined by inventor William E. Lincoln.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzəʊɪtɹəʊp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

zoetrope (plural zoetropes)

1. An optical toy, in which figures made to revolve on the inside of a cylinder, and viewed through slits in its circumference, appear like a single figure passing through a series of natural motions as if animated or mechanically moved.
   • 1890, William James, The principles of psychology‎^[1], page 200:

     Is consciousness really discontinuous, incessantly interrupted and recommencing (from the psychologist’s point of view)? and does it only seem continuous to itself by an illusion analogous to that of the zoetrope?

   • 1993, Will Self, My Idea of Fun:

     This was the way I passed through the remainder of my childhood. The zoetrope span smoothly, time’s Chief Designer narrowed the legs of trousers and decreed that the cars should be more aerodynamic.

   • 2014 April 11, Ron Charles, “David Grand’s ‘Mount Terminus’”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 190, number 18, page 37:

     The Rosenbloom Loop is a clever little device, but it’s an even more clever symbol of the role that discipline plays in the creation of illusion: the persistence of vision that makes sequential still images appear to move. In a sense, that’s the wizardry that Grand spins in this zoetrope of a novel as these characters love and build and pine and die.

Synonyms

• daedalum
• thaumatrope

Translations

optical toy

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 西洋鏡 / 西洋镜 (zh) (xīyángjìng)

• Finnish: zoetrooppi (fi)
• Russian: зоотро́п m (zootróp)

See also

• phenakistoscope

Anagrams

• zeotrope