Without looking it up, what’s the longest single-syllable English word you can think of? (Here are the answers.)
Advertise here with Carbon Ads
This site is made possible by member support. 💞
Big thanks to Arcustech for hosting the site and offering amazing tech support.
When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!
kottke.org. home of fine hypertext products since 1998.
Beloved by 86.47% of the web.
Comments 7
thread
latest
popular
This popped into my head this morning while brushing my teeth. I came up with "though" and then "thought" and finally "strength" (8). Couldn't think of anything longer...perhaps you'll do better?
strengths
Well played!
I've always thought it was "squirrelled", which (with the British spelling) has 11 letters. Rhymes with "world" (but then insert obligatory comment about how syllables are a construct and sort of just made up because we can't agree on them. source: https://kottke.org/23/12/0043498-do-syllables-exist-althou)
“Strengths” is a good word to remember as it’s the longest English word with only one vowel, AFAIK.
"Strengths" cannot be beat. I realized this while being broughammed to the airport.
@kottke the actual longest single syllable English word is the elongated “fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck” I sigh when I read the news most days.
If you feel like this comment goes against the grain of the community guidelines or is otherwise inappropriate, please let me know and I will take a look at it.
This thread is closed for new comments & replies. Thanks to everyone for participating!