Friday word: Zugzwang

[med_cat]

Apologies for being late. I bring you a z-word:
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Zugzwang: in chess, a situation where one must make a move, but no matter what move one makes, it will weaken one's position.

I've seen it used figuratively in the last year or so, in reference to political decisions...

You can read more details on the original meaning in this article from Wikipedia

Comments

[med_cat]

Yeah, I saw it in political commentary articles (in Russian) over the past year or two; had to look it up. And yes, very expressive word, isn't it.

As to pronunciation, there appears to be some debate on the subject, see this video and comments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liolF1UFfj8