Word Facts

Weird Word

Reading books or glancing through a dictionary, speaking with people or thinking aloud. Words are everywhere and knowledge of words is the basis for the knowledge of life itself. But sometimes all this knowledge gets heavy and brain gets fatigued of reading all the intellectual stuff. For taking a break from all the studying- Here are a few fun facts (about words.)

1.      The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."

Read the word? Now imagine the irritating sound a chalk makes on the board or when a car applies emergency brakes at a high speed. That is a ‘screech’ and that is an irritant.

2.      "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

And the phenomenon, the end of which is often unclear is a dream. Come to think of it, I never remember how my dreams start!

3.      The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.

And it rhymes with ‘Little’

4.      The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.

The word ‘Run’ has 179 and ‘Take’ has 127 and ‘Set’ has more than both!

5.      "Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und."

Is there any fact about the word ‘Most Wanted’?

6.      There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous" -- tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

Un ‘dous’ tres? No? Ok.

7.      The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

My head hurts!

8.      The only other word with the same amount of letters is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.

I feel a tumor growing in my brain.

9.      The longest place-name still in use is a New Zealand hill, Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwenuakitnatahu.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I am dead.

10.  There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein" -- the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.

One word for all your vocabulary-related problems!

11.  "Stewardesses" is the longest word that can be typed with only the left hand.

What? People type with left hand? Well, I type with right finger, so…

12.  To "testify" was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles.

What about women? Do they vaginify?

13.  The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."

The ploughman concerned isn’t a very healthy man I guess.

14.  The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.

Apparently copyleft is also a word!

15.  Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."

AEIOU! I didn’t scream, these are the vowels.

16.  The word "queue" is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.

Miniature versions include Pea and Pee.

17. "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

So is Blowxyz.

18.  The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.

I am going on a 35 mile journey with my pencil. #ForeverAlone

19.  The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.

UN- The most peaceful peacekeeper.

20.  "Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.

I would give a chocolate bar to the person who will list 20 vowel-less words.