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I always use sextant.  If I'm talking to a non-specialist audience, everyone understands what I'm talking about without further explanation.  If I'm talking to a specialist audience, they should guess that I know the difference between a quadrant, a quintant, a sextant and an octant, and that I'm just avoiding being pedantic.  Moreover, a plumb-bob early instrument follows different rules to a later double reflection device.  E.g. the non-mirrored quadrant measures up to 90 degrees not 180.  Also, if I do try to be super correct, there’s always the possibility that one day I’ll say the wrong “----ant” and look an even bigger clot than normal.  DaveP