2

Are there terms for works of fiction with only 2,4,5,6 etc. many entries?

Is there a an abstract collection word for those words?

Eg. "Those N-ology titles are really annoying/awesome!"

I mean the closest to that I can think of would be "Those movie series are really annoying/awesome!"

Improve this question
2
  • In the movie industry they are called franchises, like a McDonald's or something. If this is not closed for lack of research I will turn it into an answer, but I am not quite sure if you are also including books ("work of fiction" could be either).
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Commented Jul 8, 2018 at 21:40
  • 1
    Generally, when there's more than three in a series of movies or books, it becomes a "saga".
    – DerpDevil
    Commented Jul 8, 2018 at 22:42

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

I think you have already landed on your general term:

series

Oxford

1.1 A set of books, periodicals, or other documents published in a common format or under a common title. ‘the first four books in the Toybox Science series’

When referring to a storyline or set of characters that are followed through more than one work, this usage seems to be more common for novels (especially fantasy novels), but it works for films as well.

I would distinguish it from a franchise, which can refer to a series (of films, novels, or what have you), but references the entire commercial enterprise around the series.

franchise

Oxford

1.2 A general title or concept used for creating or marketing a series of products, typically films or television shows. ‘the Harry Potter franchise’

You can see how they are distinguished in an example from the wikipedia entry for The Fast and the Furious

The Fast and the Furious (colloquial: Fast & Furious) is an American franchise based on a series of action films that is largely concerned with illegal street racing, heists and espionage, and includes material in various other media that depicts characters and situations from the films.

Here, franchise refers to the entire commercial enterprise ("an American franchise"), where series refers to the films themselves ("based on a series of action films")

Improve this answer
3
  • We have "duology" for a pair of related works, "trilogy" for a 3-work series, and "tetralogy" for a 4-work series, but I think that's about as far as "N-ologies" go. An example of a tetrology is Wagner's operatic Ring Cycle: Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung. (Twilight of the Gods).
    – tautophile
    Commented Jul 8, 2018 at 22:08
  • Ah yes, opera. In that case, instead of series, the word is cycle. But that tends to be just for music, and perhaps poetry.
    – De Novo
    Commented Jul 8, 2018 at 22:14
  • Decology is for a ten work series. It looks like you start with the Greek numeric prefix and add an ology to it.
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Commented Jul 9, 2018 at 1:37

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .