Wednesday, June 22, 2011

English Language trivia


  • No word in the English language rhymes with month.
  • Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters mt.
  • The word set has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
  • Underground is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters und.
  • The longest one-syllable word in the English language is screeched.
  • There are only four words in the English language which end in -dous : tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
  • The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
  • The only other word with the same number of letters is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.
  • 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, here, ere, therein, herein.
  • No words in the English language rhyme with orange, silver or purple.
  • Stewardesses is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
  • To testify was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles.
  • 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 verb cleave is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
  • The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
  • Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."

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