Zzxjoanw

Zzxjoanw ( ) is a likely fictitious entry in an encyclopedia which fooled logologists for many years. It referred to a purported Māori word meaning "drum", "fife", or "conclusion".
Origin.
In 1903, author Rupert Hughes published "The Musical Guide", an encyclopedia of classical music. Among its many sections was a "pronouncing and defining dictionary of terms, instruments, etc." The dictionary, 252 pages in all, explained the meaning and gave the pronunciation of German, Italian, and other non-English words found in the terminology of classical music. At the end of the dictionary, immediately following the entry for (German for cymbal), Hughes added the following definition: 
The entry was retained when the book was republished under different titles in 1912 and 1939.
Analysis and discovery as likely hoax.
"Zzxjoanw" attracted interest from logologists who wrote about it with a mixture of intrigue and skepticism. Dmitri Borgmann included the term in his 1965 book, "":
In 1974, "Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words", while accepting the word's meaning as a "Māori drum", rejected Hughes' pronunciation of "shaw", proposing a somewhat different version: "ziks-jo'an".
Philip M. Cohen first published about "zzxjoanw" as a potential hoax in a 1976 issue of "Word Ways." He highlighted its pronunciation, its unlikely connection to the spelling, its wide variety of meanings, and that one of those meanings, "conclusion", also happened to conclude the reference work in which it appeared. He also pointed to its unlikely Māori origin, because "Māori has no closed syllables or consonant clusters, let alone the conglomerations of 'zzxjoanw', nor even an 's' or 'sh' sound. The available Māori dictionaries give words for 'drum' and 'end', but they haven't the slightest resemblance to 'zzxjoanw' or 'shaw. Ross Eckler picked up Cohen's critique in his 1996 book "Making the Alphabet Dance," speculating that Hughes may have "expected it to be obvious, but he did not take into account the credulity of logologists, sensitized by dictionary-sanctioned outlandish words such as mlechchha and qaraqalpaq.
The book "You Say Tomato: An Amusing and Irreverent Guide to the Most Often Mispronounced Words in the English Language", published in 2005, appears to take the word seriously. Citing "eminent alternative lexicographer Mr. Peter Bowler" it gives the meaning as a Māori drum; however it declines to offer a pronunciation, saying that "We'll leave the pronunciation to the , although Welshmen and Poles are said to be able to do wonders with it".