Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 April 2

= April 2 =

Special name for sixth most important character
We know about the terms protagonist, deuteragonist, and tritagonist. But can we extend this to include special names for the next few characters in order of importance?? The fourth is tetartagonist and the fifth is pemptagonist. But hectagonist for the sixth can be confusing because we're familiar with hect- as meaning 100. What term do most people use for the sixth most important character?? (Please don't answer this with "nobody cares".) Georgia guy (talk) 17:54, 2 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Numeral prefix might be helpful. Personally, I would have expected heptagonist, but beyond protagonist these are not terms I have ever employed or encountered before, although I'd have understood them from general principles. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.209.123.235 (talk) 18:32, 2 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Hept- is number seven. (Or according to your link it should be hebdomo- since we need the ordinal prefix. These don't get much use.) Card Zero  (talk) 19:50, 2 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Oops, sorry! I lost track of how deep into the cast list we were. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.209.123.235 (talk) 06:27, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
 * I'm going to answer with "very few people would find it necessary to do so.". A character who is beyond third most important or necessary would not be worth labelling, surely? Hect- for six is well established so unless you're language building or fantasy writing I'd suggest "hectagonist" is valid doktorb wordsdeeds 19:38, 2 April 2022 (UTC)
 * It sounds like a fun bit of literary criticism is in the making. I guess the hectagonist of Reservoir Dogs was Mr. Pink. "Why do I have to be the hectagonist!?" Card Zero  (talk) 20:02, 2 April 2022 (UTC)
 * I'm delighted that the Greek for "hundred" is hecaton. A heck of a ton. That does indeed sound like a lot. Card Zero  (talk) 19:56, 2 April 2022 (UTC)


 * Since you raised the issue, maybe you could provide some research on who does care, besides yourself? --←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:56, 2 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Do you think such research would help to answer the question? (If not, your "contribution" is irrelevant.) --Lambiam 10:00, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Yes, I do think such research would help. --←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:41, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Googling some of those terms, I found this, which might at least give the OP some guidance. --←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:55, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
 * There are a few words formed with tetart(o)-, such as tetartoid, tetartocone and tetartohedral. However, in these words the prefix is not the ordinal sense of fourth, but the fractional sense, ¼. That's where it appears to end; I cannot find words prefixed with pempt(o)-. --Lambiam 10:22, 3 April 2022 (UTC)


 * The Prisoner? Number Six: "I am not a number! I am a free man character!" Clarityfiend (talk) 03:55, 5 April 2022 (UTC)