Item #: SCP-4472

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: MTF Eta-88 ("Inkhounds") is to monitor major dictionary publishers, warehouses, and distribution hubs worldwide. Personal collections of dictionaries should be assessed through surveillance of trade shows and other social functions. Embedded agents are to monitor ongoing print runs for SCP-4472 infection, as well as the processes by which new words are inducted into well-established dictionaries. Media containing early-stage SCP-4472 growth may be treated through removal of the affected portions. Media containing late-stage SCP-4472 growth should be incinerated immediately.

GRIH-series webtrawlers are to be tasked with identifying and removing any instances of SCP-4472 from online dictionaries, help sites, and other text repositories. Secondary tasking is to include removing evidence of late-stage SCP-4472 infections. Individuals frequently flagged in association with this content are to be apprehended, interviewed, and subsequently amnesticized. Post-amnestic detention of such individuals is not currently considered necessary due to an absence of cross-medium transmission involving living creatures.

DEC 10, 2045 NOTICE: Funding increases have been approved for ongoing research into exact definitions-by-volume thresholds for SCP-4472 gestation. Results from this research are to be immediately incorporated into record-keeping best practices and disseminated to external organizations.

Description: SCP-4472 is an anomalous word that propagates within textual media via unknown mechanisms, exclusively originating within dictionaries and other comparable media. All Latin script-based instances of SCP-4472 appear as 'eittai'. All other formulations appear to transliterate similarly within extant phonetic structures, but establishing correct pronunciation has been complicated by the lack of enunciation guidelines.

All observed SCP-4472 instances are accompanied by definitions that identify it as a descriptor of discrete phenomena's physical and emotional elements. These definitions are mirrored across all emergent instances until a new definition begins propagation. The textual and thematic contents of SCP-4472 definitions have undergone significant changes since initial discovery in 1999. Experimentation employing external stimuli was abandoned in 2020 due to uncertainties about long-term effects of the process.

SCP-4472 instances follows a consistent development pattern in all recent cases:

• SCP-4472 gestates within an SCP-4472-11 instance, typically replacing the most appropriate entry according to the media's organizational system. All generated text mirrors the primary language of relevant SCP-4472-1 instances.

• Adjacent entries are subsequently replaced by SCP-4472 and its accompanying definition. This process repeats until all available entries have been replaced. All previously unaffected text (such as copyright information) is subsequently replaced by SCP-4472.

• Following complete textual replacement of an SCP-4472-1 instance, its physical structure undergoes extensive degradation due to the localized collapse of ontological barriers. A spherical area of approximately 3.33 m3 surrounding the instance is similarly affected, severely compromising adjacent matter cohesion for varying periods of time.2

The impact of late-stage SCP-4472 infections upon physical matter was first observed in September 2044 and has continuously intensified in new instances since that point. Analysis by Foundation linguists has not identified any permanent damage to fundamental language constructs despite intensifying effects, but uncertainties remain as to whether such damage could be successfully observed prior to extensive lexical corrosion.

Addendum 4472-A (List of Known SCP-4472 Definitions):

Entries sorted by projected gestation date and translated as necessary.

• JUN 1999: The sound of a heart's first ten beats. Thrashing at first, uncertain of success. Confident by the end, sure of existence.

• DEC 2000: The chill of stones first found under uncertain feet. Terrifying as a plunge into the black ocean. Sturdy as the earth itself.

• JAN 2003: The wilting of flowers in a windowsill five minutes after noon. Petals falling. Stem bending. Discarded bones of the eyes' feast.

• NOV 2007: The tint of the sky during sunset, as seen through a narrow window. Tempting and foreboding in equal measure.

• FEB 2019: The shimmering of a falling sun's smoke trail. Long and dark. Ominous and brilliant.

• FEB 2019: The thunder of a sun's final impact. Loud. Brief. Final.

• JUL 2019: [Sole definition comprised of blank space.]

• JUN 2020: The numbness of a blind, deaf, mute existence. Imprisonment within flesh. Fingers interlocked through brittle hair.

• AUG 2022: The agonizing softness of a bed ridden for months upon end.

• JAN 2023: The relief of freedom, interrupted only by weakness of body and spirit. Home's familiarity, tempered by a litany of funerals.

• MAY 2030: The comfort of camaraderie on a destitute plateau. Spirits fortifying spirits against further misery. Hands upon hands honed to inflict miseries threefold.

• MAR 2035: The many reflections of a sun's trail when launched from machineries by hurtful hands. Lights on broken glass. Lights on dull uniforms. Lights on empty eyes.

• SEP 2039: The smell of fifty-thousand corpses on a wintry plain when muffled by snow and preserved by cold.

• MAY 2041: The smell of ten-thousand corpses on a salty shore when bitten by gulls and encrusted with salt.

• JAN 2043: The sound of a heart's ten beats when faced by impossible monuments. Five in awe of the tower to mortal gods. Five in defiance of their crumbling cause.

• MAR 2044: The agony of one-million steps climbed, laced with the expectation of one-million more. Fighting while climbing. Resting while climbing. Living while climbing.

• DEC 2045: The sight of a throne room holding thirteen vacant chairs and thirteen grudges unfulfilled.

• DEC 2045: The beating of fists against a locked door.

• DEC 2045: The shattering of axes against a locked door.

• DEC 2045: The burning of suns against a locked door.

• JAN 2046: The act of breaking through.

Footnotes

1. SCP-4472-1 designates all media containing SCP-4472 instances.

2. Observed cases have ranged between 36 minutes and 17 days, 8 hours, 55 minutes.