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Bernie Green's avatar

As a boy in England I was taight that a compass found direction while the drawing instrument was "a pair of compasses".

I also wondered if sesto is related to sextant - also a device for measuring angles. Ciao

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Parola del Giorno (#PdG)'s avatar

Hi there! I believe that il sesto and il sestante (sextant) are both related to the Latin word for "six." Il sesto is less used as a noun; il compasso is more common.

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