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EnglishwordswithoutvowelsWikipedia

Englishwordswithoutvowels
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Englishhaswordswrittenwithoutthefiveconventionalvowelletters(A,E,I,O,U)italsohaswordswithout
spokenvowelsounds.Inmostlanguagesoftheworld,allornearlyalllexicalwordshavevowelsounds,and
Englishisnoexceptionhowever,rhoticdialectsofEnglish(suchasmostvarietiesofAmericanEnglish)have
wordslikenurseandwordwithasyllabicrsound,butthesewordsaretypicallywrittenwithavowelletter
immediatelypriortoanr.Ontheotherhand,therearewordsthatarenotwrittenwithanyofthefiveconventional
vowelletters,thoughtheyarepronouncedwithavowelsound.Therealsoaresomeinterjectionsandbesides
onomatopoeia,toideophonesingeneral,thatcontainneithervowelsoundsnorsyllabicrandwhicharethus
spelledwithnovowelletter.
Thisarticledoesnotcoverabbreviations,suchaskmorms,noracronyms.

Contents
1
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5
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WithY
WithW
WithoutWorY
Wordswithoutvowelsounds
Seealso
References

WithY
InEnglish,theletterYcanrepresenteitheravoweloraconsonantsound,[1]andmanyModernEnglishwordsspell
the//and/a/soundswithYtheseincludeby,my,dry,fly,fry,cry,pry,gym,shy,sky,sly,spy,try,sty,why,hymn,
lynx,myrrh,myth,wyrm,crypt,flyby,gypsy,lynch,nymph,pygmy,rhythm,[2]trystandsyzygywhicharevowelsin
thesecases.[3]Thelongestdictionarywords(baseformsexcludingplurals)withYtheonlyvowelarerhythm,
spryly,sylphySphynxandsyzygy.[4]Thelongestsuchwordincommonuseisrhythms,[5][6]andthelongestsuch
wordinModernEnglishistheobsolete17thcenturywordsymphysy.Ifarchaicwordsandspellingsare
considered,therearemanymore,thelongestperhapsbeingtwyndyllyngs,thepluraloftwyndyllyngmeaning
"twin".[7]

WithW
MiddleEnglishusedWtorepresenteitheravoweloraconsonantsoundinthesamewaythatModernEnglish
usesY,particularlyduringthe14thand15thcenturies.VocalicWgenerallyrepresented/u/,[1][8]asinwss"use".[9]
ThispracticeexistsinmodernWelshorthography,andthereareacoupleofwordsborrowedfromWelshthatuse
Winthisway:
Thecrwth[10](pronounced/kr/or/kru/andalsospelledcruth)isaWelshmusicalinstrumentsimilarto
theviolin:[11]
Heintricatelyrhymes,tothemusicofcrwthandpibgorn.[12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_without_vowels

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cwtch(ahidingplaceorcubbyhole)isalsofromWelsh(albeitarecentwordinfluencedbyEnglish),and
crwthandcwtchareaccordingtoCollinsthelongestEnglishdictionarywordswithoutA,E,I,O,U,orY.[4]
Acwm[13](pronounced/kum/)isadeephollowwithinamountain,usuallywithsteepedges,likeacorrie,
suchastheWesternCwmofMountEverest.However,itis,inliteraryEnglish,nearlyalwaysspelledcombe
(asinIlfracombeandCastleCombe),coomb(asinJ.R.R.Tolkien)orcomb(asinAlfred,LordTennyson).
TheInternetslangtermpwnaroseasamisspellingoftheword"own",duetotheoandpkeysbeingnextto
eachotheronQWERTYkeyboards,andusedtobeacommonlyusedwordontheinternet.

WithoutWorY
TherearefewerlexicalwordswithnoneofthevowelsAEIOUWY.Thelongestsuchlexicalword(notcounting
interjections)istsktsks,[2]pronounced/tsktsks/.Themathematicalexpressionnth/n/,asindelightedtothe
nthdegree,isinfairlycommonusage.[14]Anothermathematicaltermwithoutvowellettersisrng/r/,derived
fromringbydeletingtheletteri.
Vowellesspropernamesfromotherlanguages,suchasthesurnameNg,mayretaintheiroriginalspelling.(See
below.)
Therearealsonumerousvowellessinterjectionsandonomatopoeiafoundmoreorlessfrequently,includingbrr
(brrrisoccasionallyaccepted),bzzt,grrr,hm,hmm,mm,mmm,pfft,pht,phpht,[11]psst,sh,shh,zzz.

Wordswithoutvowelsounds
AlthoughEnglishisconsideredtobeoneofthemanylanguagesthatrequirevowelsineachsyllable,[15]the
syllabicrofrhoticdialectsinwordslikebird,learn,girl,church,heard,word,worstcanbeanalyzedasbeinga
syllabicconsonant,[ ].Thereisnouniformagreementamonglinguistsastowhethertheseshouldinsteadbe
classedasrhoticvowels,[].Thismayevendifferfromdialecttodialect.
Theissueissimilarinregardtonasalconsonantsand/l/,whichcanappearasthesyllablenucleusinunstressed
syllables.Therearemanydisyllabicwordswhereoneofthesyllableshasnosyllabicvowel,likecurtain,and
turtle:[k tn]and[t tl ](or[ktn],and[ttl]),andevenafewthatare,ormaybe,trisyllabic,suchaspurpler
[p .pl . ],hurdler[h .dl . ],burglar[b .l . ],gurgler[ .l . ],certainer[s .tn. ],andUrturtle[ .t .tl ].The
wordswyrmandmyrrh[2]containneitheravowelletternoravowelsoundinsomedialects:[w m],[m ](or
[wm],[m]).
AlistofEnglishwordswithoutvowelsounds(mostlyinterjections)canbefoundhere.
Inaddition,someunstressedfunctionwordsmaylosetheirvowelinmorerapidspeech.Thewordandfrequently
contractstoasimplenasalstopn,asinlock'nkey[lkki].Wordssuchaswill,have,andisregularlycontract
toll[l],ve[v],ands[z](or[s]dependingoncontext).Ofthesellandsare,liken,sometimespronounced
withoutanyadjoiningvowel,asinIt'snot.

Seealso
Wordswithoutconsonants
Wiktionary:Listofwordsthatcompriseasinglesound

References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_without_vowels

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1."Y,n.".OEDOnline.September2012.OxfordUniversityPress.4October2012.
2."HowtobeateveryoneatboardgamesthisChristmas".YorkshirePost.JohnstonPressPlc.December21,2007.
RetrievedOctober11,2012.
3."IstheletterYavoweloraconsonant?".OxfordDictionaries.Retrieved4October2012.
4."TheLongestWordintheCollinsEnglishDictionary".CollinsDictionarywebsite.4April2012.
5.Smith,R.Kent(2012).BuildingVocabularyforCollege.Cengage.p.2.
6."TVTonight".Intelligencer.September16,2004.""Rhythm"and"syzygy"arethelongestEnglishwordswithout
vowels."|section=ignored(help)
7.Todd,RichardWatson(2007).MuchAdoAboutEnglish:UpandDowntheBizarreBywaysofaFascinatingother
examplesare:skyflybytryLanguage.NicholasBrealey.
8."W,n.".OEDOnline.September2012.OxfordUniversityPress.4October2012.
9.Rogers,Bruce(1999).YouCanSayThatAgain!:AFunApproachtoSoundingBetterWhenYouOpenYourMouthto
Speak.Dumdum.p.104.
10.AlanPeterson(December27,1986)."WhyTheSillySeasonCanBeABitShortOnFun".TheSydneyMorningHerald.
p.24.RetrievedOctober11,2012.|section=ignored(help)
11.CharlieFidelman(May28,1992)."WarOfTheWords".MontrealGazette(Canada).p.G8."Othersmemorizewords
withoutvowels:"crwth"forexample,whichmeansanancientstringinstrument.Anotheris"phpht",definedasan
interjection."|section=ignored(help)
12.DylanThomas,UnderMilkWood,1954
13.VivaSarahPress(February15,1999)."AtScrabbleclub,politicsgetnoscore:Jerusalemgroup,foundedbyex
Montrealer,unitesIsraelisfromacrossthespectrum".MontrealGazette.p.A18.|section=ignored(help)
14."ArethereanyEnglishwordsthathavenovowels?".Dictionary.comWordFAQs.Retrieved4October2012.
15.Katamba,Francis(2004).EnglishWords:Structure,History,Usage.Routledge.p.78.

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