List of the longest English words with one syllableFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
This is a list of candidates for 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] Other sources include words as long or longer. Some candidates are questionable on grounds of spelling, pronunciation, or status as obsolete, dialect, proper noun, or nonce word.
Contents [hide]
1 List
2 Proper names
3 Contrived endings
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Listword pronunciation letters source notes
schtroumpfed /ˈʃtruːmpft/ 12 Eco[2] The original French name for smurf is schtroumpf, and is used as an all-purpose noun and verb by Smurfs and in imitation of them. 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." However, this is intended to represent the Schtroumpf language rather than English.[2]
squirrelled /ˈskwɜrld/ 11 LPD;[3] MWOD[4] compressed American pronunciation of a word which in British RP always has two syllables /ˈskwɪrəld/. In America the given spelling is a variant of the more usual squirreled: see -led and -lled spellings.
broughammed /ˈbruːmd/ 11 Sc.Am.[5] meaning "travelled by brougham", by brown townogy with bussed, biked, carted etc. Suggested by poet William Harman in a competition to find the longest monosyllable.
schmaltzed /ˈʃmɔːltst/, /ˈʃmɒltst/, /ˈʃmæltst/ 10 OED[6] meaning "imparted a sentimental atmosphere to" e.g. of music; with a 1969 attestation for the past tense.
squirreled /ˈskwɜrld/ 10 LPD;[3] MWOD;[4] Moser[1] the more usual American spelling of squirrelled.
scrootched /ˈskruːtʃt/ 10 AHD[7] variant of scrooched, meaning "crouched"
scroonched /ˈskrʊnʃt/ 10 W3NID;[8] Moser[1] variant of scrunched, meaning "squeezed".
scraunched /ˈskrɔːnʃt/ 10 W3NID;[8] Moser[1] a "chiefly dialect" word, meaning "crunched".
broughamed /ˈbruːmd/ 10 Shaw[9] a shorter variant of broughammed, used by George Bernard Shaw in a piece of journalism.
strengthed /ˈstrɛŋθt/ 10 OED[10] 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.
schwartzed /ˈʃwɔrtst/ 10 [11] meaning "responded 'schwartz' to a player without making eye-contact" in the game zoom schwartz profigliano.
schnappsed /ˈʃnæpst/ 10 Sc.Am.[5] meaning "drank schnapps"; proposed by poet George Starbuck in the same competition won by his friend William Harman.
[edit] Proper namesSome nine-letter proper names remain monosyllabic when adding a tenth letter and apostrophe to form the possessive:
Laugharne's /ˈlɑrnz/ [3]
Scoughall's /ˈskoʊlz/ [12]
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.[13]
Schwartzed (10 letters) has been used to mean "(re)designed in the style of Martha Schwartz"[14]
Schwartzed has also been used to mean "crossed swords with Justice Alan R. Schwartz"[15]
Schmertzed (10 letters) has been used to mean "received undue largesse from New York City through the intervention of negotiator Eric Schmertz"[16]
[edit] Contrived endingsIn 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.[17]
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[18] and stretch'dst,[19] each of which has one syllable spelled with ten letters plus apostrophe.
[edit] See alsoLongest word in English
English words with uncommon properties
[edit] References
