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I saw a new compound word of something that related with “number” and “article” that describes the style of articles that start with number such as "7 Things happy people choose to do every single day," “10 paragraphs about lists you need in your life,” and “20 things you need to know about Einstein,” in an article of today’s NYT, or Time magazine, or New Yorker.

Wikipedia carries this word as a compound of ???+aricle. I forgot what ??? was.

In other word, it’s an itemized style of writing under, for instance, Rule 1, 2, 3..

I thought it a very convenient word to describe “X number reasons, things, ways, tips for sucess, a better bargain, and persons who ....” style articles now in fashion, but, I forgot to note it down.

Could you teach me the word, if you can think it up, or have read the article?

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    I think this is a list question. :P
    – Flimzy
    Commented Aug 31, 2013 at 17:23

1 Answer 1

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I believe the word you're looking for is Listicle:

In journalism and blogging, a listicle is a short-form of writing that uses a list as its thematic structure, but is fleshed out with sufficient copy to be published as an article. A typical listicle will prominently feature a cardinal number in its title, such as "10 Ways to Warm Up Your Bedroom in Winter", or "25 Hairstyles of the Last Hundred Years", with subsequent subheadings within the text itself reflecting this schema. The word is a portmanteau derived from list and article.

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    Never heard of that before.
    – tchrist
    Commented Aug 31, 2013 at 12:41
  • I wonder why they didn't choose the better sounding 'artist'? Commented Aug 31, 2013 at 13:24
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    p.s.w.g.Yes. This is exactly the word I saw in a yesterday’s (August 30 in US?) newspaper (or magazine) and in wikipedia. I wish I could remember in which medium of NYT, Times magazine, and New Yorker that I regularly read to find the seeds of questions for EL&U – and I saw the word, and what the title of the article it was. It was pity that I just skimmed the article, and didn’t peruse. Commented Aug 31, 2013 at 20:54

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