From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of candidates for the longest English word of one syllable, i.e. monosyllables with the most letters. A list of 9,123 English monosyllables published in 1957 includes three ten-letter words: scraunched, scroonched, and squirreled.[1] Guinness World Records lists scraunched and strengthed.[2] Other sources include words as long or longer. Some candidates are questionable on grounds of spelling, pronunciation, or status as obsolete, nonstandard, proper noun, loanword, or nonce word. Thus, the definition of longest English word with one syllable is somewhat subjective, and there is no single unambiguously correct answer.
List[edit]
word | pronunciation | letters | source | notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
schtroumpfed | 12 | Eco[3] | The original French name for smurf is schtroumpf, and this word is used as an all-purpose noun and verb by the titular characters. The form schtroumpfed is used in Alistair McEwen’s English translation of an essay by Umberto Eco: «Let us suppose that an English speaker of average culture hears a Schtroumpf poet reciting I schtroumpfed lonely as a schtroumpf.» This does not follow the conventions of English-language versions of The Smurfs, where one would instead encounter the word smurfed.[3] | |
broughammed | 11 | Sc.Am.[4] | meaning «travelled by brougham», by analogy with bussed, biked, carted etc. Rhymes with fumed, zoomed. Suggested by poet William Harmon in a competition to find the longest monosyllable. | |
squirrelled | 11 | LPD;[5] MWOD[6] | compressed American pronunciation of a word which in British RP always has two syllables /ˈskwɪrəld/. The monosyllabic pronunciation rhymes with world, curled. In the United States the given spelling is a variant of the more usual squirreled: see -led and -lled spellings. | |
broughamed | 10 | Shaw[7] | a variant of broughammed, used by George Bernard Shaw in a piece of journalism. | |
quarrelled | 10 | OED[8] | the more usual British spelling quarreled. | |
schmaltzed | , , | 10 | OED[9] | meaning «imparted a sentimental atmosphere to» e.g. of music; with a 1969 attestation for the past tense. |
schnappsed | 10 | Sc.Am.[4] | meaning «drank schnapps»; proposed by poet George Starbuck in the same competition won by his friend William Harmon. | |
schwartzed | 10 | [10] | meaning «responded ‘Schwartz’ to a player without making eye-contact» in the game Zoom Schwartz Profigliano. | |
scraunched | 10 | W3NID;[11] Moser[1] | a «chiefly dialect» word, meaning «crunched». | |
scroonched | 10 | W3NID;[11] Moser[1] | variant of scrunched, meaning «squeezed». | |
scrootched | 10 | AHD[12] | variant of scrooched, meaning «crouched» | |
squirreled | 10 | LPD;[5] MWOD;[6] Moser[1] | the more usual American spelling of squirrelled. | |
strengthed | 10 | OED[13] | an obsolete verb meaning «strengthen», «force», and «summon one’s strength». The latest citation is 1614 (1479 for strengthed), at which time the Early Modern English pronunciation would have been disyllabic. |
Proper names[edit]
Some nine-letter proper names remain monosyllabic when adding a tenth letter and apostrophe to form the possessive:
- Laugharne’s [5]
- Scoughall’s [14]
Note that both use the ough tetragraph, which can represent a wide variety of sounds in English.
In his short story, «Strychnine in the Soup», P. G. Wodehouse had a character whose surname was «Mapledurham», pronounced «Mum». This is eleven letters, while «Mapledurham’s» is twelve.
It is productive in English to convert a (proper) noun into an eponymous verb or adjective:
- A 2007–08 promotion in France used the slogan «Do you Schweppes?», implying a past tense Schweppesed (11 letters) for the putative verb.[15]
- Schwartzed (10 letters) has been used to mean «(re)designed in the style of Martha Schwartz»[16]
- Schwartzed has also been used to mean «crossed swords with Justice Alan R. Schwartz»[17]
- Schmertzed (10 letters) has been used to mean «received undue largesse from New York City through the intervention of negotiator Eric Schmertz»[18]
Contrived endings[edit]
In a 1970 article in Word Ways, Ralph G. Beaman converts past participles ending -ed into nouns, allowing regular plurals with -s. He lists five verbs in Webster’s Third International generating 10-letter monosyllables scratcheds, screecheds, scroungeds, squelcheds, stretcheds; from the verb strength in Webster’s Second International he forms the 11-letter strengtheds.[19]
The past tense ending -ed and the archaic second person singular ending -st can be combined into -edst; for example «In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul» (Psalms 138:3). While this ending is usually pronounced as a separate syllable from the verb stem, it may be abbreviated -‘dst to indicate elision. Attested examples include scratch’dst[20] and stretch’dst,[21] each of which has one syllable spelled with ten letters plus apostrophe.
See also[edit]
- Longest word in English
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d
Moser, Henry M. (June 1957). Dreher, John J.; Oyer, Herbert J. (eds.). One-syllable words (Report). Technical report. Vol. no.53. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Research Foundation. OCLC 878346994.;
cited in
PMC (1978). Albert Ross Eckler (ed.). «Review: English monosyllables«. Word Ways. Indianapolis. 11–12: 118. - ^ «Longest monosyllabic English words». Guinness World Records. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ a b
Eco, Umberto (1999). «§4.7.2: Meaning and the text». Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition. translated by Alistair McEwen. Harcourt Brace. 277–8. ISBN 0-15-100447-1. - ^ a b
Gardner, Martin (April 1979). «Mathematical games». Scientific American. 240 (4): 18. Bibcode:1979SciAm.240e..18G. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0579-18. - ^ a b c
Wells, John C. (2000). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (2nd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-36467-7. - ^ a b
Spelling: «2squirrel». Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
Pronunciation: «1squirrel». Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^
Shaw, George Bernard (1932). Our Theatres in the Nineties. London: Constable and Company. p. 205. ISBN 1-4067-4302-X.…horsed and broughamed, painted and decorated, furnished and upholstered…
- ^
«strength, v.». Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). 1989. - ^
«schmaltz, v.». Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). 1989. - ^
Cullen, Ruth (2006). The Little Black Book of Party Games: The Essential Guide to Throwing the Best Bashes. Illustrated by Kerren Barbas. Peter Pauper Press. p. 14. ISBN 1-59359-919-6.If the first person has been schwartzed, he can either look at a new person and say «Zoom,» or send it right back to the second person by saying «Pifigiano»
- ^ a b
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. 1966. ISBN 0-7135-1038-2. - ^ Joseph P. Pickett; et al., eds. (2000). «scrooch». The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-82517-2. Archived from the original on 2007-08-24. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^
«strength, v.». Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). 1989. - ^
«Scoughall». Scripture Union Holidays. 2007. Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2009-01-15.Scoughall (pronounced «skole») is in East Lothian, not far from North Berwick.
- ^
«Do you Schweppes» (in French). Orangina Schweppes. December 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-10-31. Retrieved 2009-07-06. - ^
Diesenhouse, Susan (June 26, 2004). «Landscapes of the mind». Boston Globe. archinect. Retrieved 2009-01-15.So distinctive is her style that her name has become a Euro design verb, as in Barclays at Canary Wharf is being ‘Schwartzed’ .
- ^
Mandel, Roberta G. (Spring 2005). «The End of an Era at the Third District Court of Appeal: The Retirement of Judge Robert L. Shevin, Judge Mario P. Goderich and Chief Judge Alan R. Schwartz» (PDF). The Record. Tallahassee: Florida Bar, Appellate Section. XI (1): 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2006. Retrieved 2009-01-14.there is no other jurist who has inspired the formation of a new terminology:»to be Schwartzed» or «to get Schwartzed» or «passing the Schwartz test.»
- ^ Barbanel, Josh (October 23, 1990). «Negotiator’s Quiet Style Elicits Loud Protest». The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
I have now turned Schmertz into a verb and a noun,» the former Mayor said. «If you have been abused, we say you have been Schmertzed. If you get an unwarranted and undeserved payment from the City of New York, you say, ‘Thank you Mr. Mayor, for the Schmertz.’
- ^ Beaman, Ralph G. (1970). «Syllabilities». Word Ways (4): 79. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
- ^ Woolbert, Charles Henry (1922). Better Speech: A Textbook of Speech Training for Secondary Schools. p. 103.
- ^ Shoemaker, Rachel Walter Hinkle (1898). Advanced elocution. p. 129. ISBN 0-89609-169-4.
External links[edit]
- askoxford.com: What is the longest one-syllable English word?
- rec-puzzles.org: What words have an exceptional number of letters per syllable?
Do you want to impress your friends with the longest English words? This blog is for you! Some of these words aren’t used very often, but some of them are quite common and you will absolutely be able to use them whenever you’re speaking English.
- The longest word in English
- The longest word in the dictionary
- The longest words we actually use
- The longest word with one syllable
- The longest word with one vowel
Learn languages at your pace
The longest word in English
The actual longest word in English is unfortunately so long that I can’t write it here. It has 189,819 letters and takes over three hours to say! We don’t have time for that. And thankfully, it isn’t a word you’re likely to use because it’s the chemical name for titin. Here’s a very brief snapshot: meth…ucine. Just add 189,810 letters in between.
The longest word in the dictionary
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word in any major English dictionary. It refers to a lung disease which can also be called silicosis. Why the long version then? Because it was deliberately made up to be the longest word in the English dictionary. The longest non-technical, non-medical word in an English dictionary is the 29-letter floccinaucinihilipilification. This is a Latin word that means the act of estimating that something is worthless.
The longest words we actually use
You might have realized you’ve never heard anyone use any of the words we’ve mentioned so far. That has nothing to do with your level of English – most native speakers don’t know those words either! The longest words you will see in a normal English text are counterrevolutionaries and deinstitutionalisation, both with 22 letters. Another, with 21 letters, is incomprehensibilities, meaning things which are impossible to understand. The longest word we use regularly in everyday speech is probably uncharacteristically, at 20 letters.
Learn languages at your pace
The longest word with one syllable
Brits and Americans are going to argue over this one. Because of our different pronunciations, we don’t agree on what is the longest one-syllable word in English. People from the US and Canada might tell you that it’s the word squirrel(l)ed. This has ten or eleven letters, again depending on where you’re from. While our transatlantic friends pronounce this something like ‘squirld’ (ˈskwərld), Brits pronounce the word squirrelled with two syllables: ‘squir-relled’ (ˈskwir-əld). I don’t want to say who’s wrong or right but… we are learning British English here.
There are several longest words with one syllable in British English and they all have nine letters: screeched, scratched and strengths are just three of them. (We’re going to see strengths again in a bit – it’s our word of the day today.)
The longest word with only vowels
Euouae wins this category. With six letters, it is the longest word in English with only vowels. However, ask an English person what this word means and they probably won’t have a clue. It’s a musical word from medieval times, so not a massively useful term to know for most of us.
The longest word without a vowel
People argue over this one because it’s hard to agree on what is or isn’t a vowel. If we take the standard English definition that there are five vowels – a e i o u – then rhythms is the longest English word without a vowel. But some people will say that the y in rhythm acts as a vowel.
Another worthy contender for this category is the word tsktsks. That doesn’t look much like English, does it? It’s more of a sound than a word and it’s sometimes spelt tsk-tsks, but tsktsks is allowed in Scrabble so I think it counts. It’s similar to a tut-tut sound of disapproval.
The longest word with one vowel
Strengths! Our word of the day is back. Strengths, with nine letters, is the longest word in English with only one vowel. A fairly close rival is schnapps, which has eight letters; so let’s raise a glass to it, and to all of the long words we’ve met today, and say ‘cheers’.
Which of these long words do you think you’ll be able to use in your next English conversation?
Learn languages at your pace
Laura is a freelance writer and was an ESL teacher for eight years. She was born in the UK and has lived in Australia and Poland, where she writes blogs for Lingoda about everything from grammar to dating English speakers. She’s definitely better at the first one. She loves travelling and that’s the other major topic that she writes on. Laura likes pilates and cycling, but when she’s feeling lazy she can be found curled up watching Netflix. She’s currently learning Polish, and her battle with that mystifying language has given her huge empathy for anyone struggling to learn English. Find out more about her work in her portfolio.
Sometimes, less is more. Very often in English, a one-syllable word will suffice to express an idea over a more complicated multisyllabic word. This article will showcase dozens of different one-syllable words in English, so you can make sure your vocabulary is more varied and rich in knowledge.
What Are Some Good 1 Syllable Words?
One doesn’t often think about words that have only 1 syllable in them, but the truth is that there are a ton of great words that you can use that only include one syllable. Some of the best English words with one syllable are: Cat, dog, car, sky, and laugh.
Here are some great 1 syllable words:
- Cat
- Dog
- Car
- Sky
- Laugh
- Green
- Blue
- Far
- Close
- Rough
- Down
Printable PDF List of 1 Syllable Words
Shortest 1 Syllable Words
These are perhaps the most classic examples of words that only have one syllable, because when you think of one syllable, you’re probably thinking about brief, concise words. A short 1 syllable word manages to convey an entire idea in a deceptively small package.
Here’s some of our favorite short one syllable words:
- Up
- Yes
- No
- Bus
- Be
- Go
- Sue
- Sun
- Act
- Tip
Longest 1 Syllables Words
A word having one syllable doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be short, however. In fact, some English words might have only one syllable when pronounced, but are actually fairly long when typing them out. Some words are monosyllabic even if they’re as long as some multisyllabic words.
Here are some of the English language’s longest words with one syllable:
- Schmaltzed
- Schnappsed
- Scraunched
- Strengthed
- Scroonched
- Broughammed
1 Syllable Words For Kindergarten
One syllable verbs, one syllable adjectives and one syllable nouns are all very relevant to small children, who are still learning to speak. The fact that they are not experienced at reading, writing and speaking guarantees that they will benefit from easy 1 syllable words.
These are just a few 1 syllable words for kids that can come in handy:
- Draw
- Pay
- Train
- Shoes
- Shirt
- Eat
- Red
- Black
- Grow
- Fruit
1 Syllable Words About Nature
Though the natural world can seem very complicated, the truth is that there are many 1 syllable words about animals and natural phenomena. In fact, there are also many 1 syllable words about summer and 1 syllable words about winter, among 1 syllable words for the other seasons.
Here are some one syllable words that focus on the natural world and all of its living creatures:
- Cow
- Goat
- Rain
- Snow
- Hail
- Cloud
- Grass
- Crow
- Bird
- Wolf
1 Syllable Words To Describe Someone
There also exist many one syllable words that can describe people and their qualities. Whether it’s very broad things or specific subjects, there’s many one syllable words in each description category. There are 1 syllable words about love, and about hate, and all the emotions in between.
Here are some 1 syllable adjectives that can describe people:
- Good
- Bad
- Great
- Fool
- Brave
- Kind
- Tall
- Short
- Mean
- Rich
1 Syllable Words Ending In “-y”
Many words in English can transform from a noun into an adjective by adding a “y” at the end. This transforms the word from being a noun about something, to being a descriptor that says it has the quality of something. Many of those words have only one syllable.
Here are some one syllable words that end in “-y”:
- Key
- Sly
- Wry
- Shy
- Gray
- Stray
- My
- Dry
- Spry
- Fly
1 Syllable Sentences
For many people, a sentence has to contain multiple words, several of which probably have multiple syllables, for it to be a valid English sentence. But the truth is that, by using a verb in the imperative form, just one monosyllabic verb can be a proper sentence.
Here are a few examples of sentences with only one syllable:
- Stop.
- Run.
- Work.
- Fight.
- Cry.
Complete List Of 1 Syllable Words
Here are all of the one syllable words contained within this article, all in one list for your convenience and perusal:
- Cat
- Dog
- Car
- Sky
- Laugh
- Green
- Blue
- Far
- Close
- Rough
- Down
- Up
- Yes
- No
- Bus
- Be
- Go
- Sue
- Sun
- Act
- Tip
- Schmaltzed
- Schnappsed
- Scraunched
- Strengthed
- Scroonched
- Broughammed
- Draw
- Pay
- Train
- Shoes
- Shirt
- Eat
- Red
- Black
- Grow
- Fruit
- Cow
- Goat
- Rain
- Snow
- Hail
- Cloud
- Grass
- Crow
- Bird
- Wolf
- Good
- Bad
- Great
- Fool
- Brave
- Kind
- Tall
- Short
- Mean
- Rich
- Key
- Sly
- Wry
- Shy
- Gray
- Stray
- My
- Dry
- Spry
- Fly
- Stop
- Run
- Work
- Fight
- Cry
You may also like:
50+ Good 2 Syllable Words (List & Pictures)
50+ Good 3 Syllable Words (List & Pictures)
50+ Good 4 Syllable Words (List & Pictures)
Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.
From the corpus of about one million words in the English language, there are about a dozen words (mostly rare or obsolete) that vie for the longest one-syllable (monosyllable) words with 11 or 10 letters. Containing 9 letters are 10 more common words that curiously when read out loud form a rather challenging onomatopoeic tongue-twister.
11-letter monosyllable words:
squirrelled (11 letters) or squirreled (10 letters): To hide in a safe place.
broughammed: To travel by a four-wheeled horse drawn carriage (known as a brougham); Rhymes with “zoomed.”
10-letter monosyllable words:
schmaltzed: Evoked a sentimental atmosphere
scrootched: Crouched
scroonched: Squeezed
scraunched: Crunched
strengthed: To strengthen (obsolete)
thrutched: Pushed or squeezed into place
9-letter monosyllable words:
Schlepped
Scratched
Screeched
Scrounged
Scrunched
Straights
Stretched
Strengths
Read related posts: What is the Longest Word in English?
What is the Longest Acronym?
What is the Most Misspelled Word in English?
Words with Letters in Alphabetical Order
Difficult Tongue Twisters
What Rhymes with Orange?
For further reading: Crazy English by Richard Lederer, Pocket Books (1989)
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/words/what-is-the-longest-one-syllable-english-word
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_longest_English_words_with_one_syllable
Scraunched and the archaic word strengthed, each 10 letters long, are the longest English words that are only one syllable long. Nine letter monosyllabic words are scratched, screeched, scrounged, squelched, straights, and strengths.
[EDD] The associated 17-letter SQUAITCHED-MOUTHED (lying, deceitful) is the longest known 2-syllable dictionary term.
What is the longest word in the world that takes 3 hours to say?
METHIONYLTHREONYLTHREONYGLUTAMINYLARGINYL …
All told, the full chemical name for the human protein titin is 189,819 letters, and takes about three-and-a-half hours to pronounce. The problem with including chemical names is that there’s essentially no limit to how long they can be.
What is the shortest 2 syllable word?
Io may be the shortest two syllable word in the English language.
What is a 10 syllable word?
Category:English 10-syllable words
- diiodohydroxyquinoline.
- ovolactovegetarianism.
- heterophenomenological.
- dimethoxyphenylethylamine.
- triacetyloleandomycin.
- extravehicular activity.
- biological immortality.
- abetalipoproteinemia.
What are the D words?
Explore the Words
- dally. waste time. …
- dapper. marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners. …
- dauntless. invulnerable to fear or intimidation. …
- dawdle. take one’s time; proceed slowly. …
- dearth. an insufficient quantity or number. …
- debacle. a sudden and complete disaster. …
- debilitate. make weak. …
- debunk. expose while ridiculing.
Is there a word with all 26 letters?
An English pangram is a sentence that contains all 26 letters of the English alphabet. The most well known English pangram is probably “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”.
What is the shortest word?
Eunoia, at six letters long, is the shortest word in the English language that contains all five main vowels. Seven letter words with this property include adoulie, douleia, eucosia, eulogia, eunomia, eutopia, miaoued, moineau, sequoia, and suoidea. (The scientific name iouea is a genus of Cretaceous fossil sponges.)
What is titin full name?
isoleucine for the protein also known as titin, which is involved in striated muscle formation. In nature, DNA molecules can be much bigger than protein molecules and therefore potentially be referred to with much longer chemical names. … However, this name, proposed by B.
What is Kakorrhaphiophobia?
: abnormal fear of failure.
What is a 2 syllable word?
In two-syllable words, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are usually stressed on the first syllable. Two-syllable verbs are usually stressed on the second syllable. Some words, called heteronyms, change part of speech when the stressed syllable moves.
What is the shortest 3 syllable word?
The shortest three-syllable word in English is “w.”
What is a 4 syllable word?
Four Syllable Words
- Bureaucratic.
- Contradicting.
- Copulation.
- Degenerate.
- Dictionary.
- Directory.
- Disestablish.
- Execution.
What is a 7 syllable word?
7 Syllable Types – There are 7 types of syllables that occur in all words of the English language. Every word can be broken down into these syllables. These 7 syllables include: closed, open, magic e, vowel teams, r-controlled, dipthongs and consonant le.
What is a 8 syllable word?
Page 1: intellectualization, electronegativity, authoritarianism, tetrahydrocannabinol, intellectualisation, indecipherability, internationalization, electrocardiography, egalitarianism, totalitarianism, Bacillariophyceae, utilitarianism, Auriculariaceae, pseudohermaphroditism, indefatigability, electrogalvanization, …
What’s a 16 letter word?
16 Letter Words
Word | Length | Vowels |
---|---|---|
Environmentalism | 16 | 6 |
Remilitarization | 16 | 8 |
Bronchopneumonia | 16 | 7 |
Incomprehensible | 16 | 6 |
The one most commonly cited is screeched (nine letters). However, one ought to mention also scratched, scrounged, scrunched, stretched, and the plural nouns straights and strengths (all with nine letters).
The complete Oxford English Dictionary also indicates the existence of scraughed, scrinched, scritched, scrooched, sprainged, spreathed, throughed, and thrutched.
The Oxford English Dictionary also cites a single instance of the ten-letter word scraunched from the 1620 English translation of Don Quixote.
English is spoken as a First Language by more than 300 million people throughout the world and used as a Second Language by many millions more. One in five of the world’s population speaks English with a good level of competence and within the next few years the number of people speaking English as a Second Language will exceed the number of Native Speakers.
There are quite a few common 9-letter words pronounced with a single
syllable, for instance: SCHLEPPED, SCHMOOZED (or SCHMOOSED), SCRATCHED,
SCREECHED, SCROUNGED, SCRUNCHED, SPLOTCHED, SQUELCHED, STRAIGHTS,
STRENGTHS, STRETCHED
Here are some rarer examples, all of which are acceptable in
international Scrabble: SCHLUMPED, SCHMEARED, SCHMEERED, SCHNORRED,
SCRAICHED, SCRAIGHED, SCRAUGHED, SCRITCHED, SCROOCHED, SCROWDGED,
SQUINCHED, SQUOOSHED, THRUTCHED
Before moving on to longer examples, let’s disallow drawn-out
monosyllabic noises and utterances such as the 234-letter cry of anguish
(230 A’s followed by 4 H’s) on the last page of Portnoy’s
Complaint (1967) by Philip Roth.
10 Letters
BROUGHAMED (broomd) transported by brougham (a one-horse closed
carriage), first used in 1854 in Household Words, an English weekly
magazine edited by Charles Dickens.
«So on and on until the doctor of today grows upon us, learned,
skilful, knighted, broughamed, degreed, honoured, …» [Net]
SCHMALTZED imparted a sentimental atmosphere to. [OED]
SCHNAPPSED loaded up on the alcoholic drink schnapps.
«We will get very Schnappsed—very, very Schnappsed! We will
talk about the good things!» [The Book of Kings, J Thakara, 2000,
p469]
SCHPRITZED attacked, slandered. [CDS]
SCHWARTZED responded ‘Schwartz’ to a player without making
eye contact, in the drinking game Zoom Schwartz Profigliano. [Wiki]
SCRAUNCHED a dialectic word for ‘crunched’. [Web3]
SCREECGHED Shetland Islands variant of ‘screighed’,
shrieked. [EDD]
SCREETCHED variant of ‘screeched’. [EDD]
SCRIETCHED early form of ‘screeched’. [OED]
SCROANCHED a Cornish word meaning ‘scraped’. [EDD]
SCROONCHED variant of ‘scrunched’, squeezed together.
[Web3]
SCROOTCHED variant of ‘scrooched’, crouched. [RHD]
SCROUNCHED variant of ‘scrunched’, crunched. [EDD]
SKLEUTCHED slouched, a Scottish term. [EDD]
SKRIETCHED early form of ‘screeched’. [OED]
SPLAUTCHED let a soft substance fall heavily on the floor. [EDD]
SPRAUNCHED exaggerated, told lies. [EDD]
SQUAITCHED squeezed out of shape. [EDD] The associated 17-letter
SQUAITCHED-MOUTHED (lying, deceitful) is the longest known 2-syllable
dictionary term.
SQUAWTCHED variant of ‘squatched’, betrayed, told a
secret. [EDD]
SQUIRRELED variant of ‘squirrelled’ (see 11 Letters).
STHRITCHED strutted, put on airs. [EDD, stretch]
STRAUNCHED old variant of ‘stranged’, obsolete for
‘estranged’. [OED]
STRENGTHED obsolete for ‘strengthened’. [OED]
STREYGHTES old form of ‘straights’, narrow passes. [MED,
streit]
STROOTCHED variant of ‘strooched’, dragged the feet while
walking. [EDD]
There are no doubt other 10-letter monosyllables that can be added
to this list. Now it is time to look at the small, curious collection of
longer one-syllable terms, which comprises dialectic and obsolete words,
English and part-foreign coinages, and examples of strained verbal
inflections and regional pronunciation.
11 Letters
BROUGHAMMED (broomd) somewhat dubious double-m variant of broughamed
(see 10 Letters), suggested by American poet William Harmon in a
competition to find the longest monosyllabic word. [Wiki]
SCHWEPPESED a few years back American actress Uma Thurman starred in
a raunchy global TV/cinema campaign for Schweppes soft drinks. The
following comment was posted on brandchannel.com [Net] on 6 May
2011:
«[Thurman] is a little more offbeat than her typical characters
and certainly more sexed up (or at least Schweppesed up), than normally
depicted on screen.»
SPLEAATCHED variant of ‘splatched’, splattered. [EDD]
SQUIRRELLED (squerld) stored up for future used. A compressed
American pronunciation sanctioned by the Merriam-Webster Online
Dictionary. [Wiki, Net]
STRENGHTHED variant of ‘strengthed’. [MED, strengthen]
STREYNGTHES early form of ‘strengths’. [OED]
12 Letters
SCHTROUMPFED (shtroompft) the original French name for
‘smurf’ (you know, the cute little blue characters) is
schtroumpf, which is used as an all-purpose noun and verb by Smurfs and
in imitation of them. The form schtroumpfed is used in an English
translation of an essay by Italian writer Umberto Eco:
«Let us suppose an English speaker of average culture hears a
Schtroumpf poet reciting ‘schtroumpfed lonely as a
schtroumpf.'»
However, this is intended to represent the Schtroumpf language
rather than English. [Wiki]
STRENGTHEDST a possible archaic second person singular past tense of
the obsolete verb ‘strength’, to strengthen. For example, the
Bible contains the following:
‘In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst
me with strength in my soul.’ (Psalms 138:3)
The 12-letter form strengthedst would be feasible, and indeed does
appear (in error) on some websites and in a published book. [Net]
While the-edst ending would usually be pronounced as a separate
syllable from the verb stem, it could conceivably be shortened to a
single syllable.
STREYNGHTHED another variant of the old word ‘strengthed’,
strengthened. The verbal stem streynghth- is listed in MED, and the
following appears in a medieval manuscript held at Durham University
Library, England:
«Alexander the grett conqueroure in all his conquest … and
stallwardly streynghthed hyme in all vertu.» [www.dur.ac.uk
(Net)]
13 Letters
SCHTROUMPFFED a nonce-word based on Schtroumpff, variant of
‘schtroumpf’, French for ‘smurf’ (see 12 Letters).
The double-f ending is used numerous times as a nickname by people
registered on the social networking website Facebook (Net). For example,
there is a Schtroumpff Blue, Schtroumpff Amoureux, Schtroumpff Grognon,
and Schtroumpff Gourmand, as well as a Cynique Schtroumpff, Grand
Schtroumpff, Marie Lola Schtroumpff Allizon, and others. One could
easily say after being swamped by all those Schtroumpffs,
«We’re just about Schtroumpffed out!»
STRENGHTHEDST possible Middle English variant of
‘strengthedst’ (see 12 Letters), based on the form
‘strenghthed’ (see 11 Letters), as in ‘thou
strenghthedst’.
14 Letters
HALFPENNYWORTH (haypth) as much as is sold for or is worth a
halfpenny (hape-nee), a compressed British regional pronunciation. The
word is often pronounced and spelt ‘ha’porth or
‘ha’p’rth (hay-pith.) However, in a land where the
surname Cholmondeley can be shortened to ‘Chumley’ and
Featherstonehaugh to ‘fenshaw’, compression to a single
syllable is possible, as suggested by the occasional spelling
‘ha’p’th’. [Net]
«With the disappearance in the 1980s of the halfpenny …, the
English are now denied the rich satisfaction of compressing
‘halfpennyworth’
into ‘haypth’.» [The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson,
1990]
STREYNGHTHEDST possible Middle English variant of
‘strengthedst’ (see 12 Letters’, based on the form
‘streynghthed’ (see 12 Letters’), as in ‘thou
streynghthedst’.
15 Letters
HALFPENNYWORTHS (haypths) plural of ‘halfpenny worth’ (see
14 Letters).
References
CDS Cassell Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 1998
EDD English Dialect Dictionary, Joseph Wright, 1970 ed.
MED Middle English Dictionary, 1959-2001
Net Internet, using Google search program
OED Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989
RHD Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed.,
1987
Web3 Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1976
Wiki Wikipedia (Net)
JEFF GRANT
Hastings, New Zealand
COPYRIGHT 2014 Jeremiah Farrell
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