# tic tac toe



## rusita preciosa

What do you call this game in your language?

Two pairs of parallel lines are drawn on a piece of paper, one vertical and one horizontal, thus creating 9 boxes. The players take turn to draw Xs and Os; whoever is first to draw three in a row, wins.

Russian: *крестики-нолики* [krestiki-noliki] - little crosses littlle zeros 
French: *morpion* (I wonder what the origin of the word is?)


----------



## phosphore

Serbian:

iks-oks


----------



## Agró

Spanish:
Tres en raya (Three in a row).


----------



## rusita preciosa

phosphore said:


> Serbian:
> 
> iks-oks


 does it mean Xs and Os?


----------



## phosphore

rusita preciosa said:


> does it mean Xs and Os?


 
You could say so, though _oks_ otherwise means nothing while _iks_ is the name for the letter <x>.


----------



## Frank06

Hi,

When I was a kid, we had a similar game. But if I remember well, the players, each using a pen in a different colour, had to try to form OXO. The grid was also bigger than 3x3.
We called that game, unsurprisingly, oxo...

A quick search with google tells me that tic tac toe is also called oxo [okso] in Dutch.

Groetjes,

Frank


----------



## ronanpoirier

In Portuguese it's called "jogo da velha" which stands for "game of the old lady" (unless "velha" has another meaning here).


----------



## tanp0p0

In Vietnamese:

Cờ Ca-rô


----------



## apmoy70

In Greek:
H τρίλιζα
Ι tr*i*liza (_f._)


----------



## Encolpius

*Hungarian:* amőba (literally amoeba)

*Czech:* piškvorky


----------



## sakvaka

*Finnish*: _ristinolla_ (cross-zero)


----------



## sound shift

*English *(British): "noughts and crosses"


----------



## Hakro

*Finnish:* 
The traditional name of the game is _Jätkän shakki_ (Timberjack's chess), but nowadays many people call it _Risti-nolla _(Cross-zero) which I think is an illogical combination.

If only three in a row is needed, the player who starts always wins. In the real timberjack's chess you have to get five in a row, and the squared paper can be as large as necessary. An A4-sized paper is often used, and sometimes it has to be enlarged with another paper.

There is also a 3-dimensional version that is played in a cube of 4x4x4 boxes. In practice it's played on paper with four squares of 4x4 boxes.


----------



## rusita preciosa

Just learned that is Spanish (Arg) it is *ta-te-ti*


----------



## rusita preciosa

apmoy70 said:


> In Greek:
> H τρίλιζα
> Ι tr*i*liza (_f._)


 Does the name have to do with the number three?


----------



## rusita preciosa

Encolpius said:


> *Czech:* piškvorky


Does this word mean anything else?


----------



## kusurija

Encolpius said:


> *Hungarian:* amőba (literally amoeba)
> 
> *Czech:* piškvorky


Piškvorky in Czech is _another_ (but similar) game, which is NOT reduced to 9 (NINE) cells. And wins that, whoever is first to draw *5 (FIVE)* in a row, not 3.


----------



## apmoy70

rusita preciosa said:


> Does the name have to do with the number three?


Yes it does because in the game, 3 same marks in a row are needed to win


----------



## zăpadă

Romanian : x şi 0


----------



## Outsider

ronanpoirier said:


> In Portuguese it's called "jogo da velha" which stands for "game of the old lady" (unless "velha" has another meaning here).


I know it as "jogo do galo", the rooster game.


----------



## rusita preciosa

STELE said:


> Romanian : x şi 0


does that mean x and zero or x and (letter) o?


----------



## enoo

rusita preciosa said:


> French: *morpion* (I wonder what the origin of the word is?)



I wonder too... Having a game named _pubic louse_ is quite strange 
(in France several years ago a "morpion" scratch-off game/card was created and put up for sale, with cartoonish louse printed on it. 
I wonder how long it will take until kids think the name comes from this scratch card and the louse characters, instead of the opposite.)


----------



## Tamar

In Hebrew it's called איקס עיגול  _iks igul -_ _igul_ means circle.


----------



## Pedro y La Torre

I've never heard of tic-tac-toe before. In Ireland this game is known as X's and O's.


----------



## amikama

Tamar said:


> In Hebrew it's called איקס עיגול  _iks igul -_ _igul_ means circle.


Also *איקס מיקס דריקס* (_iks miks driks_). The first word means X, the other are meaningless.


----------



## brtkrbzhnv

Hakro said:


> *Finnish:*
> The traditional name of the game is _Jätkän shakki_ (Timberjack's chess), but nowadays many people call it _Risti-nolla _(Cross-zero) which I think is an illogical combination.


That's similar to the Swedish name _luffarschack_ 'hobo chess' for the five-in-a-row game. The three-in-a-row game we just call _tic tac toe_, though sometimes it too gets called _luffarschack_.


----------



## Ghabi

In Chinese: 打井 _dǎ jǐng_ (the first word is a versatile verb like the French _faire_, the second word means "a well", used because the character that represents this word looks like the nine-box thing)


----------



## ThomasK

Incredible: how nice! In Dutch I have always referred to it as OXO (because there was a soup  brand called like that, which was very popular ?)...


----------



## Frank06

Hi,


ThomasK said:


> Incredible: how nice! In Dutch I have always referred to it as OXO (because there was a soup brand called like that, which was very popular ?)...


Because the combination that gave you a point was OXO? (in contrast to TTT, where one wins the game by either forming OOO or XXX?)

Frank


----------



## ThomasK

Good Lord, yes, you're right, one can play the game in several ways ! _(Some people have a fresher (?) mind in the morning than others...)_


----------



## ThomasK

phosphore said:


> You could say so, though _oks_ otherwise means nothing while _iks_ is the name for the letter <x>.


 
Wait a sec: does oks mean nothing, or does it mean 'nothing' ?


----------



## Nizo

*Esperanto* dictionaries give _tiktako_ and _mordpeono_.  However, one lexicologist just led an online discussion of this a few months ago.  The popularly accepted recommendation was to refer to the game as _*tri en vico*_ (three in a row).


----------



## HUMBERT0

Agró said:


> Spanish:
> Tres en raya (Three in a row).


In Spanish (México), we call it "gato" = cat, I don't know why.


----------



## Ella Dutchie

In Dutch, it's called "boter, kaas en eieren". If you translate that, you'll get "butter, cheese and eggs". Doesn't make sense really, haha.
You'll be able to find more translations on Wikipedia.
OXO is by the way a variation to boter, kaas en eieren.


----------



## Soushie

French: Tic Tac Toe


----------



## everest1

rusita preciosa said:


> What do you call this game in your language?
> 
> Two pairs of parallel lines are drawn on a piece of paper, one vertical and one horizontal, thus creating 9 boxes. The players take turn to draw Xs and Os; whoever is first to draw three in a row, wins.
> 
> Russian: *крестики-нолики* [krestiki-noliki] - little crosses littlle zeros
> French: *morpion* (I wonder what the origin of the word is?)


 
Spanish: tres en raya


----------



## ThomasK

I am just wondering: 
(a) why is there a reference to a rooster? 
(b) can anyone explain the Vietnamese phrase ?
(c) why amoeba in Hungarian? 
(d) what does the Czech word refer to ?


----------



## Maroseika

enoo said:


> I wonder too... Having a game named _pubic louse_ is quite strange


Because of a lot of marks in the paper looking like lice? Or crosses biting zeros (morpion < pue qui mord)?


----------



## ThomasK

A lice-y, rooster-y game ? Strange, all these associations ! Can anyone explain why this game (and others ???) get that (many) names ?


----------



## bibax

> piškvorky ...  (d) what does the Czech word refer to?


The Old Czech word škvoř (variants: piškvor, piškvorec, pískavec) has an onomatopoeic root (skvor-) and denoted a kind of insect.

Now: škvor obecný = Forficula auricularia; škvoři = dermaptera (earwigs)


----------



## filoutjie

In Afrikaans: Kruisies en nulletjies. Like the Russian meaning:little crosses and little zeros. Probably from the English "crosses and naughts."


----------



## OneStroke

Cantonese: 過三關 - pass three 'passes' (I'm not sure which meaning of 關 it originally meant)


----------



## Encolpius

kusurija said:


> Piškvorky in Czech is _another_ (but similar) game, which is NOT reduced to 9 (NINE) cells. And wins that, whoever is first to draw *5 (FIVE)* in a row, not 3.



I think it is more popular here in Central Europe. I haven't known about the 3x3 version, so there is no name and what I erote is the closer cultural term. 

Germans call it: Schiffe versenken spielen  and it is not the 3x3 version either


----------



## bibax

"Shiffe versenken" is another game: Battleship. We used to play it in school during lessons.


----------



## Karton Realista

Polish: kółko i krzyżyk 
Little circle and little cross


----------



## Pugnator

In Italian is called  "Tris" .The name is a sort of "fake" latinism, in fact is built  upon the latinism "bis".


----------



## Encolpius

I wonder if the 3x3 version is not too fast and easy.


----------



## 810senior

Japanese:　三目並べsanmoku-narabe(placing three-squares), マルバツmaru-batsu, マルペケmaru-peke(either of two means ○[maru] and x[batsu/peke])


----------



## Karton Realista

Encolpius said:


> I wonder if the 3x3 version is not too fast and easy.


The gameplay is pretty short and there's a hugely limited number of combinations you can make. But that's off-topic.


----------



## SuperXW

Ghabi said:


> In Chinese: 打井 _dǎ jǐng_ (the first word is a versatile verb like the French _faire_, the second word means "a well", used because the character that represents this word looks like the nine-box thing)





OneStroke said:


> Cantonese: 過三關 - pass three 'passes' (I'm not sure which meaning of 關 it originally meant)


I haven't heard of either of these. The game is not a traditional or popular game in Mainland China, so its name is not fixed.
五子棋 (Gomoku) is more popular. Its rules are similar to tic tac toe but requires placing five pieces in a role in a much larger board, therefore more strategies are needed.


----------



## Pugnator

Encolpius said:


> I wonder if the 3x3 version is not too fast and easy.


Exist other version other then 3x3 one ? On Google Image I'm able to found only 3x3 versions and I know only 3x3 versions:
tic tac toe - Cerca con Google


----------



## Encolpius

Yes, like piškvorky here.


----------



## Just another guy

Hebrew: 
1. Without nikud: איקס עיגול
     With Nikud: אִקְס עִגּוּל
     Pronunciation in English: iks 'Igul
2. Without nikud: איקס מיקס דריקס
     With Nikud: אִיקְס מִיקְס דְּרִיקְס
     Pronunciation in English: iks miks driks

*Note: It's might not be the correct nikud or pronunciation


----------



## Welsh_Sion

Anyone heard of the 3 x 3 variation (in any language) known as "Lions and Christians"? (Lions for their Open mouths, Christians for their X's).

The object of the game is to force your opponent to get three of a kind in a straight line ...

Welsh dictionary calls the original game, '*gêm OXO*', but reading the comments from NL here, I'm not really convinced.


----------



## Zareza

*Romanian*

x și zero /iks shi 'ze.rɔ/= eks and zero


----------

