Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Cleft |
CleftAdjective1. Used of hooves. 2. Having one or more incisions reaching nearly to the midrib. Noun1. A split or indentation in something (as the palate or chin). 2. A long narrow opening. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "cleft" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Food & Agriculture | Of timber brought approximately to specified dimensions by cleaving, i. e. deliberately splitting it along the grain. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | An abrupt chasm, cut, breach, or other sharp opening, such as a craggy fissure in a rock, a wave-cut gully in a cliff, a trench on the ocean bottom, a notch in the rim of a volcanic crater, or a narrow recess in acave floor. Obsolete syn: clift. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
CLEFT | English | Cleavage of lateral epitaxial films for transfer | Electrical Engineering |
| CL | English | Cleft lip | Medicine |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: CleftSynonyms: bisulcate (adj), cloven (adj), dissected (adj), crack (n), crevice (n), fissure (n), scissure (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
bisection | Adjective: bisected; Verb: cloven, cleft; biconjugate, bicuspid, bifid; bifurcous, bifurcate, bifurcated; distichous, dichotomous, furcular; semi-, demi-, hemi. |
Difficulty | Under a difficulty; in a box; in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape; Noun: in deep water, in a fine pickle; in extremis; between two stools, between Scylla and Charybdis; surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands; at cross purposes; not out of the wood. |
Interval | Noun: interval, interspace; separation; break, gap, opening; hole; chasm, hiatus, caesura; interruption, interregnum; interstice, lacuna, cleft, mesh, crevice, chink, rime, creek, cranny, crack, chap, slit, fissure, scissure, rift, flaw, breach, rent, gash, cut, leak, dike, ha-ha. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Cleft foot, otherwise known as ”split”, "lobster claw", or partial adactyly is a rare inherited anomaly in which a single cleft extends proximally into the foot. It usually occurs in conjunction with clawing of the hand. Credit: CDC. |  | Schematic presentation of a protein containing a cleft, in equilibrium between two states in which either water molecules (dark blue dots) or substrate (yellow) are bound. Increasing osmotic pressure shifts the equilibrium towards the state in which water is released from the cleft. Credit: NICHD. |
 | [Procedure for treating cleft lip]. Credit: National Library of Medicine. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | An instant of wild flight had delivered him and the cry of triumph which his lips withheld cleft his brain |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | Even when cleft or bored through it is not comprehended in its entireness |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | VCFS occurs in approximately 5 to 8 percent of children born with a cleft palate. (references) | |
Most or all of these first 12 children were born with a cleft palate, heart defects and similar faces. (references) | ||
Cleft palate is the fourth most common birth defect affecting approximately one of every 700 live births. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Cleft" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 60.19% of the time. "Cleft" is used about 103 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 60.19% | 62 | 42,755 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 27.18% | 28 | 65,706 |
| Lexical Verb (past participle) | 7.77% | 8 | 124,375 |
| Lexical Verb (past tense) | 4.85% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Total | 100.00% | 103 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "cleft": be in a cleft stick ♦ branchial cleft ♦ cleft between the buttocks ♦ cleft foot ♦ Cleft grafting ♦ cleft infinitive ♦ Cleft Lip ♦ cleft palate ♦ cleft spine ♦ cleft stick ♦ cleft wood ♦ gill cleft ♦ pudendal cleft ♦ urogenital cleft. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "cleft": Cleft-footed, cleft-tailed. | |
Ending with "cleft": pseudo-cleft. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "cleft"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | plasaritje (chap, crack, cracking, flaw), i ndarë me dysh (bifid), çarje (break, breaking, cleavage, cut, dissection, fissure, fracture, gap, gulf, incision, opening, orifice, rent, rift, slash, split, splitting, wedge). (various references) | |
Arabic | فلع (chink, cleave, crack, crevice, split), يقع في مأزق, مفلوق (split), مشقوق (broken, cracked, rent, split, splitting, torn), صدع (breach, chasm, check, chink, crack, cranny, crevice, fault, fissure, flaw, rent, rift, split), شقوق, شق (chap, check, chink, cleavage, cleave, crack, cranny, crash, crevasse, crevice, cut, excavate, fissure, flaw, fracture, hew, hole, incise, incision, jag, loophole, lump, nick, open, overture, part, rift, rip, rive, slash, slit, slot, snag, snip, spiracle, splinter, split, spring, tear, twist). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | разцепен (cloven, forked), цепка (fissure, rip, slash, slit, slot, split, vent), цепнатина (chink, cleavage, crack, cracking, fissure, flaw, leak, rent, rift, shake, slash, slit, slot), пукнатина (break, chap, chink, cranny, crevice, fissure, flaw, gash, leak, rift, shake, split, spring). (various references) | |
Chinese | 裂缝 (Crack, slit). (various references) | |
Czech | trhlina (breach, chink, crack, crevasse, crevice, gap, gash, Lacuna, rent, rift, rip, rupture, snag, split, tear), spára, rozsedlina (crevasse), rozeklaný (forked, jagged), rozštìpený (two-cleft), rozštìp (cleavage, split), puklina (gash, rift, split), štìrbina (chink, crack, crevice, fissure, leak, slit, slot). (various references) | |
Danish | spaltning af lateral epitaksial film til genbrug (cleavage of lateral epitaxial films for transfer), spalte (crack, crevice, split), revne (burst, check, check produced in cutting, crack, fissure, fracture, gap, leak through the dike, leak through the dyke, leak through the embankment, piping, shake, small crack, split, tear), kloevet (riven, split), flaekket (cracking, riven, slit eyes, slit openings, split), fissura (crack, fissure, gap), fissur (fissure). (various references) | |
Dutch | CLEFT (cleavage of lateral epitaxial films for transfer), vore (furrow, wrinkle), spleet (crack, crevice), scissura (crack, fissure, gap), haarscheurtje (check, crack, fissure, small crack, split), gleuf (slot), gespleten (riven, split), fissura (crack, fissure, gap), bergkloof (chasm, gorge, gully, ravine). (various references) | |
Esperanto | montfendo (chasm, gorge, gully, ravine). (various references) | |
Faeroese | fjallaskarð (chasm, gorge, gully, pass, ravine). (various references) | |
Finnish | rotko (chasm, gorge, ravine), rako (chink, crack, slit, slot), pinnansuuntaisen epitaksiaalikalvon lohkaiseminen siirtoa varten (cleavage of lateral epitaxial films for transfer), kuilu (abyss, chasm, gap, gorge, shaft), halkinainen (broken, cracked), halkeama (chink, crack, crevasse, crevice, fissure, split), halkaistu (riven, split). (various references) | |
French | crevasse, crevassé, craquelure, clivé, sillon, fourchu, fissure (cleavage), fente, fendu la dimension, fendu, fêlure, déchiré, être dans une impasse. (various references) | |
German | zerklüftet (broken, craggy, fissured, indented, jagged, ragged, rugged), spalte (break, chasm, chink, cleavage, col, column, crack, cranny, crevasse, crevice, fissure, fudge, gap, hole, pillar, rift), riss (break, chap, crack, crevice, fissure, gap, interstice, laceration, rift, rip, ripped, sketch, sketch plan, split, tear), gespalten (cleaved, cloven, fissured, forked, rived, split, splitted). (various references) | |
Greek | ρωγμή (chink, crack, crevasse, crevice, fissure, rift), σχισμή (cranny, crevice, fissure, placket, rift, slit, slot, split). (various references) | |
Hebrew | חוח (fissure, hook, ring), קיק (crevice, fissure, gorge, ravine), ס"ק (chap, chink, crack, cranny, fissure, flaw, fracture, rift, slit, split), ס"וק (cracked, cracking, fission, fissure, split, splitting), בקוע (chopping, cloven, fission, split, splitting), בתר (disruption, fistula, piece), קע (crevice, fissure, sprain, strain), ח'ו (ravine), משוסע (lacy, split, torn), ערוץ (bus, channel, ditch, gorge, gulch, gully, ravine), שסע (schiza), שסוע (cloven, rending, split, splitting, tearing to pieces), מבוקע (breached, torn), מבותר (cut), מפולח (segmented, sliced), בתור (as a, cut, cutting in two, dismemberment, dissection, in the capacity of). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szakadék (abyss, beetling height, chasm, cove, deep, dell, drop-off, escarpment, gap, gourd, gulch, gulf, pit, precipice, ravine, scarp). (various references) | |
Indonesian | celah (aperture, chink, crevice, fissure, gap, rift, slit, slot, space). (various references) | |
Italian | fessura (burst, chink, crack, cranny, crevice, fissure, flaw, leak, Rive, slit, slot, split), crepa (burst, crack, crevice, fissure, flaw, rift, split). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 枝接ぎ (cleft grafting). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | え つぎ (cleft grafting). (various references) | |
Korean | 쪼개진 조각. (various references) | |
Manx | skeilt (splintered, split), scoltit (burst, chopped, cloven, fissured, gutted, hewn, parted, slit, split, sprung), scoltey (analysis, beanfeast; skive, blow out, burst, bursting, chop up, cleavage; heavy meal, cleave, crack, crack; feed, cracking, crevasse, disunion, fission, fissure, fracture, gutting, hew, rend, scission, slit, slitting, sliver, slot, split, tuck in; gut; fault, vent, venting), scaaney (chink, cleave, crack, cranny, crevice, fissure; mirror, flaw, fracture, interstice, rend), rheynnit (allotted, divided, halved, segmented), clash (channel, gorge, groove, hollow, open furrow, race, rubbish tip, trench, vale). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | eftclay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | fissura (chink, cranny, fissure), fenda (aperture, breach, chap, chink, crack, cranny, crevasse, crevice, fracture, hiatus, leak, pit, rent, rift, rip, slit, split). (various references) | |
Romanian | crãpat (broken, chopped, choppy, cracked, crazy, rimose, shaky, split, splitting), crãpãturã (breach, break, chasm, chink, crack, cranny, crevasse, crevice, eyehole, fissure, flaw, loophole, Nick, rent, rift, slit, slot, split, yawn), trecut şi participiu trecut de la cleave, tãieturã (cut, cutting, furrow, gash, hack, kerf, louver, make, Nick, notch, scar, scission, scotch, section, set, slash, slit, snick, style), fisurã (crevice, fault, fissure, loophole, rift, split), despicat (cloven, split), despicãturã (break, rend, splinter). (various references) | |
Russian | расселина;раздвоенный, расщелина (crack, crevice, fissure, opening), расколотый (cloven, riven, split), щель (areaway, call slot, chink, crack, cranny, crevice, fissure, flaw, gap, hiatus, interstice, notch, peep, rent, rift, slit, slit trench, slot), трещина (cavity, chap, check, chink, crack, cranny, fissure, flaw, fracture, joint, rent, rift, slit, split, vug). (various references) | |
Scottish | g g (a cleft, chink, fissure). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | rascepljen (cloven, split), rascep (cleavage, scission), pukotina (crack, cranny, crevice, fissure, flaw, gap, leak, rent, seam). (various references) | |
Spanish | hendido (cloven, Riven, split), grieta (burst, chasm, chink, crack, cranny, crevasse, crevice, fissure, flaw, rift, seam, shake, split). (various references) | |
Swedish | spjälkad (riven), skreva (cranny, crevice), rämna (breach, burst, chink, cleavage, crack, fissure, rend, rent, split, tear, to), klyvt, klyvning av laterala epitaxiskivor för överföring (cleavage of lateral epitaxial films for transfer), klyvde, klyvd (bifid), klyfta (chasm, fissure, gap, gorge, gully, ravine, section, segment). (various references) | |
Turkish | yarık (breach, chap, chappy, chasm, chink, cloven, cranny, crevasse, crevice, cut, fissure, gash, hiatus, incision, interstice, rent, rift, scissure, shake, slit, slot, split, tear, vent), ayrık (cloven, discontiguous, discrete, furcate, separate, separated, split, wide apart), çatlak (balmy, barmy, break, chap, chapped, chappy, chink, chip, cloven, crack, crack-brained, cracked, crackers, cracky, cranny, crevasse, crevice, cuckoo, disordered, fault, fissure, flaw, fracture, fractured, hoarse, interstice, interstitial, meshuggah, nut, nutty, off one's chump, off one's rocker, pixilated, potty, queer, queer in the head, rift, rupture, rusty, screwy, shake, shaken, shaky, split, spring, touched). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | розщеплений (cloven, split), розколотий (cloven), розколина (break, chink, crevasse, crevice, opening, split), щілина (air space, aperture, chap, chink, chop, crack, cranny, notch, opening, peep), часточка (Cantle, clove), тріщина (break, chap, chink, chop, crack, cranny, crevice, fissure, flaw, rift), промежина (perineum). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sứt vòm miệng, khe (chink, interstice), kẽ, bị bổ ra, đường nứt (crevice). (various references) | |
Welsh | hollt (slit, split), fforchog (cloven, forked), agen (clink, fissure, slot). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | fractura, scissura, scissuras. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Genesis Chapter 22, Verse 3 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | AnastaV de abraam to prwi epesaxen thn onon autou parelaben de meq' eautou duo paidaV kai isaak ton uion autou kai scisaV xula eiV olokarpwsin anastaV eporeuqh kai hlqen epi ton topon on eipen autw o qeoV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Igitur Abraham de nocte consurgens stravit asinum suum ducens secum duos iuvenes et Isaac filium suum cumque concidisset ligna in holocaustum abiit ad locum quem praeceperat ei Deus |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | Abraham ða aras on þære ylcan nihte [ond he aheow þone wudu for þære offrunge] ond ferde mid twam cnapum to þam fyrlenum lande, ond Isaac samod, on assum ridende. |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Thanne Abraham on the nyyt with rysynge, diyte his asse, ledynge with hym two yong men, and Ysaac his sone; and whanne he had hewid his wode into brent sacrifice, he yede to the place which comaundide hym God. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | Than Abraham rose vp early in the mornynge and sadled his asse and toke two of his meyny wyth him and Isaac his sonne: ad clove wod for the sacrifyce and rose vp and gott him to the place which God had appoynted him. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and cleft the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose and went to the place which God had named to him. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And Abraham got up early in the morning, and made ready his ass, and took with him two of his young men and Isaac, his son, and after the wood for the burned offering had been cut, he went on his way to the place of which God had given him word. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Genesis Chapter 22, Verse 3 |
| Cebuano | Ug si Abraham mibangon pagsayo sa buntag, ug iyang gisiyahan ang iyang asno, ug nagdala siya uban kaniya duruha ka sulogoong batan-on ug si Isaac nga iyang anak, ug nagbugha ug sugnod alang sa halad-nga-sinunog, ug mitindog siya, ug napaingon sa dapit nga giingon kaniya sa Dios. |
| Croatian | Ujutro Abraham podrani, osamari magarca, sa sobom povede dvojicu svojih slugu i svog sina Izaka, pošto je prije nacijepao drva za žrtvu paljenicu, i uputi se na mjesto koje mu je Bog oznaèio. |
| Danish | Da sadlede Abraham tidligt næste Morgen sit Æsel, tog to af sine Drenge og sin Søn Isak med sig, og efter at have kløvet Offerbrænde gav han sig på Vandring; til det Sted, Gud havde sagt ham. |
| Dutch | Toen stond Abraham des morgens vroeg op, en zadelde zijn ezel, en nam twee van zijn jongeren met zich, en Izak zijn zoon; en hij kloofde hout tot het brandoffer, en maakte zich op, en ging naar de plaats, die God hem gezegd had. |
| Finnish | Varhain seuraavana aamuna Aabraham satuloi aasinsa ja otti mukaansa kaksi palvelijaansa sekä poikansa Iisakin, ja halottuaan polttouhripuita hän lähti menemään siihen paikkaan, jonka Jumala oli hänelle sanonut. |
| French | Abraham se leva de bon matin, sella son âne, et prit avec lui deux serviteurs et son fils Isaac. Il fendit du bois pour l`holocauste, et partit pour aller au lieu que Dieu lui avait dit. |
| German | Da stand Abraham des Morgens früh auf und gürtete seinen Esel und nahm mit sich zwei Knechte und seinen Sohn Isaak und spaltete Holz zum Brandopfer, machte sich auf und ging an den Ort, davon ihm Gott gesagt hatte. |
| Haitian Creole | ¶ Nan denmen maten, bonè bonè, Abraram leve, li sele bourik li, li pran Izarak ansanm ak de nan domestik li yo. Li fann kèk moso bwa pou l' fè dife pou boule vyann bèt l'ap ofri a. Epi li pati nan direksyon kote Bondye te di l' la. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Keesokan harinya pagi-pagi, Abraham membelah-belah kayu untuk kurban bakaran dan mengikat kayu itu di atas keledainya. Ia berangkat dengan Ishak dan dua orang hambanya ke tempat yang dikatakan Allah kepadanya. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka bangunlah Ibrahim pagi-pagi hari, dipelanakannya keledainya, lalu dibawanya sertanya akan dua orang hambanya dan akan Ishak anaknyapun dan dibelahnya kayu akan korban bakaran, lalu berangkatlah ia berjalan ke tempat yang telah dikatakan Allah kepadanya. |
| Maori | ¶ Na ka maranga wawe a Aperahama i te ata, a whakanohoia ana e ia tana kaihe, a mauria ana e ia etahi o ana taitamariki hei hoa mona, me Ihaka hoki, me tana tama, a tatangia ana e ia nga wahie mo te tahunga tinana, a whakatika ana, haere ana ki te wahi i korero ai te Atua ki a ia. |
| Norwegian | Så stod Abraham tidlig op om morgenen og lesste på sitt asen og tok to av sine drenger med sig og Isak, sin sønn; han kløvde ved til brennofferet og gav sig på veien til det sted Gud hadde sagt ham. |
| Portuguese | Levantou-se, pois, Abraão de manhã cedo, albardou o seu jumento, e tomou consigo dois de seus moços e Isaque, seu filho; e, tendo cortado lenha para o holocausto, partiu para ir ao lugar que Deus lhe dissera. |
| Rumanian | Avraam s`a sculat dis de dimineayq, a pus waua pe mqgar, wi a luat cu el douq slugi wi pe fiul squ Isaac. A tqiat lemne pentru arderea de tot, wi a pornit spre locul, pe care i -l spusese Dumnezeu. |
| Swedish | Bittida följande morgon lastade Abraham sin åsna och tog med sig två sina tjänare och sin son Isak; och sedan han hade huggit sönder ved till brännoffer, bröt han upp och begav sig på väg till den plats som Gud hade sagt honom. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "cleft": clefted, clefting, clefts. (additional references) | |
| |
"Cleft" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Calafat, ceaft, Cefta, Celf, Chlef, cilfit, clact, clect, cleef, cleet, clefted, clent, clept, clet, clete, Clett, clief, cloft, Creeft, klef, lceft. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "cleft" (pronounced kle"ft) |
| 4 | -l e" f t | left. |
| 3 | -e" f t | antitheft, bereft, deft, heft, theft. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-f-l-t" | |
-1 letter: celt, clef, felt, left. | |
-2 letters: cel, eft, elf, fet, let, tel. | |
-3 letters: ef, el, et. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-f-l-t" | |
+1 letter: clefts, fletch. | |
+2 letters: clefted, deflect, falcate, fetlock, fictile, inflect, reflect. | |
+3 letters: califate, chestful, clefting, clubfeet, conflate, deflects, facelift, facetely, falcated, falconet, feculent, felicity, felsitic, fetlocks, ficklest, flection, fletched, fletcher, fletches, flichter, flitched, flitches, inflects, reflects. | |
+4 letters: afflicted, afterclap, bucketful, califates, chestfuls, cliffiest, closetful, conflated, conflates, confluent, deceitful, defalcate, deflected, deflector, effectual, electrify, facecloth, facelifts, faceplate, faculties, falconets, fictively, flechette, flections, fleeciest, fletchers, fletching, flichters, flockiest, fluctuate, fortalice, genuflect, inflected, inflicted, inflicter, laticifer, lightface, perfectly, pocketful, reflected, reflector, stenchful, teacupful. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Bible Trace 15. Abbreviations 16. Acronyms | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
