Boustrophedon or boustrephedon (Greek: βουστÏοφηδόν: "turning like oxen in ploughing"), is an ancient way of writing manuscripts and other inscriptions in which, rather than going from left to right as in modern English, or right to left as in Hebrew and Arabic, alternate lines must be read in opposite directions. The name is borrowed from the Greek language. Its etymology is from , "ox" + , "to turn" (cf. strophe), because the hand of the writer goes back and forth like an ox drawing a plow across a field and turning at the end of each row to return in the opposite direction.