# What is a Thanos Word™?

This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.

If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Thanos Word™.
Use the following examples below to find the rule.

$$% set Title text. (spaces around the text ARE important; do not remove.) % increase Pad value only if your entries are longer than the title bar. % \def\Pad{\P{1}} \def\Title{\textbf{ Thanos }} % \def\S#1#2{\Space{#1}{20px}{#2px}}\def\P#1{\V{#1em}}\def\V#1{\S{#1}{9}} \def\T{\Title\textbf{Words}^{\;\!™}\Pad}\def\NT{\Pad\textbf{Not}\T\ }\displaystyle \smash{\lower{29px}\bbox[yellow]{\phantom{\rlap{rubio.2019.05.15}\S{6px}{0} \begin{array}{cc}\Pad\T&\NT\\\end{array}}}}\atop\def\V#1{\S{#1}{5}} \begin{array}{|c|c|}\hline\Pad\T&\NT\\\hline % \text{ BLACK }&\text{ WHITE }\\ \hline \text{ BLINDSIDE }&\text{ IMPACT }\\ \hline \text{ DISCOMBOBULATED }&\text{ AWARE }\\ \hline \text{ FLIBBERTIGIBBET }&\text{ THINGAMAJIG }\\ \hline \text{ FLOTSAM }&\text{ DEBRIS }\\ \hline \text{ FOOLHARDY }&\text{ SAVVY }\\ \hline \text{ INTERLOPER }&\text{ GUEST }\\ \hline \text{ MASTERMIND }&\text{ NOVICE }\\ \hline \text{ NIGER }&\text{ NIGERIA }\\ \hline \text{ WHOOP }&\text{ BOO }\\ \hline \end{array}$$

And, if you want to analyze, here is a CSV version:

Thanos Words™,Not Thanos Words™
BLACK, WHITE
BLINDSIDE, IMPACT
DISCOMBOBULATED, AWARE
FLIBBERTIGIBBET, THINGAMAJIG
FLOTSAM, DEBRIS
FOOLHARDY, SAVVY
INTERLOPER, GUEST
MASTERMIND, NOVICE
NIGER, NIGERIA
WHOOP, BOO


Hint 1:

A Thanos Word is:

Perfectly balanced

That is, take the left side and the right side of a word, and compute the position in the alphabet:

 FLIBBERTIGIBBET ->
F: 6, L: 12, I: 9, B: 2, B: 2, E: 5, R: 18, T: 20, I: 9, G: 7, I: 9, B: 2, B: 2, E: 5, T: 20

Then, split the word into two halves (excluding center character if odd length), and take the sums of the values:
 FLIBBER (_) IGIBBET
FLIBBER = 6 + 12 + 9 + 2 + 2 + 5 + 18 = 54
IGIBBET = 9 + 7 + 9 + 2 + 2 + 5 + 20 = 54

If the sums are equal, it's a Thanos Word

• Perfect! Couldn't have said it better myself. – Nahmid Nov 6 '19 at 16:04
• ..."like all things should be" -Thanos – Möoz Nov 6 '19 at 23:53