Not so long ago, “sext” referred to one of the services that formed the daily routine in medieval monasteries. In the early morning, there were the services of matins and lauds; at 6 am, there was prime; at 9 am, terce, referring to the third hour of the day; and at 12 noon came sext, the service for the sixth hour of the day.

The times when “sext” was a term known only to ageing ecclesiastics seem to belong to a lost past. The word is now a noun and …