What is an eighth of a circle called?

Question

In my code, I have a variable that stores the number of segments per one eighth of a circle. I wonder if there is a synonym for eighth of a circle, because segmentsPerEighthOfCircle is a little lengthy. In another thread users suggest octile and octant. But I can't get the difference. Will you clarify the difference and the correct usage?

StephenS · Accepted Answer

“Octant” is the right word, but be aware most people won’t be familiar with it.
The difference between “octant” (or “quadrant”) and “octile” (or “quartile”) is that -ile is used for order/rank whereas -ant is used for position.
For instance, a point might be in the upper-right quadrant on a graph (X and Y both positive), whereas your score on a test might be in the top quartile (the best 1/4).

What is an eighth of a circle called?

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