English words without vowels

English orthography typically represents vowel sounds with the five conventional vowel letters a, e, i, o, u, as well as y, which may also be a consonant depending on context. However, outside of abbreviations, there are a handful of words in English that do not have vowels, either because the vowel sounds are not written with vowel letters or because the words themselves are pronounced without vowel sounds.

Words without written vowels

There are very few lexical words (that is, not counting interjections) without vowel letters. The longest such lexical word is tsktsks,[1] pronounced /ˌtɪskˈtɪsks/. The mathematical expression nth /ˈɛnθ/, as in delighted to the nth degree, is in fairly common usage.[2] Another mathematical term without vowel letters is ln, the natural logarithm. A more obscure example is rng /ˈrʌŋ/, derived from ring by deleting the letter i. Vowelless proper names from other languages, such as the surname Ng, may retain their original spelling, even if they are pronounced with vowels.

In the Middle English period, there were no standard spellings, but w was sometimes used to represent either a vowel or a consonant sound in the same way that Modern English does with y, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries. This vocalic w generally represented /uː/,[3][4] as in wss ("use").[5] However at that time the form w was still sometimes used to represent a digraph uu (see W), not as a separate letter. This practice exists in modern Welsh orthography so that words borrowed from Welsh may use w this way, such as:

  • The crwth[6] (pronounced /ˈkrʊθ/ or /ˈkruːθ/, also spelled cruth in English) is a Welsh musical instrument similar to the violin)[7]
He intricately rhymes, to the music of crwth and pibgorn.[8] in the Welsh alphabet W is a vowel so this word should not be counted.
  • cwtch (a hiding place or cubby hole) is also from Welsh (albeit a recent word influenced by English, and used almost exclusively in the variant of English spoken in Wales, not in standard English), and crwth and cwtch are the longest English dictionary words without a, e, i, o, u, y according to Collins Dictionary.[9] in the Welsh alphabet W is a vowel so this word should not be counted.
  • A cwm[10] (pronounced /ˈkuːm/) is used in English in a technical geographical or mountaineering context to mean a deep hollow in a mountainous area, usually with steep edges on some sides, like a corrie or cirque, such as the Western Cwm of Mount Everest. It is also sometimes used, by way of more recent borrowing from Welsh, in a more general sense of a valley. The spellings coombe, combe, coomb, and comb come from the Old English cumb,[11] which appears either to be a much earlier borrowing from a predecessor of modern Welsh, or to have an even earlier origin, given that there was an ancient Greek word κὑμβη (kumbē) meaning a hollow vessel.[12] In English literature, one can find the spellings combe (as in Ilfracombe and Castle Combe), coomb (as in J. R. R. Tolkien) or comb (as in Alfred, Lord Tennyson).

There are also numerous vowelless interjections and onomatopoeia found more or less frequently, including brr (brrr is occasionally accepted), bzzt, grrr, hm, hmm, mm, mmm, mhmm, sksksksk,[13][14] pfft, pht, phpht,[7] psst, sh, shh, zzz.

Alphabetical list of words without vowels A, E, I, O, U

B

Brr

Brrr

By(s)

Byrl(s)

Bzzt

C

Ch

Chynd

Cly

Crwth(s)

Cry

Crypt(s)

Cwm(s)

Cyst(s)

D

Dry(ly)(s)

F

Fly

Flyby(s)

Fry

Fy

Fyrd(s)

G

Ghyll(s)

Glycyl(s)

Glyph(s)

Grrl(s)

Grrr

Grrrl(s)

Gym(s)

Gyp

Gyppy

Gyp(s)

Gypsy

H

Hm

Hmm

Hmmm

Hwyl(s)

Hymn(s)

Hyp(s)

J

Jynx

K

Ky

L

Lym(s)

Lymph(s)

Lynch

Lynx

M

Mhmm

Mm

Mmm

My

Myrrh(s)

Myth

N

Nth

Ny(s)

Nymph(ly)(s)

P

Pfft

Ph(s)

Phpht

Pht

Ply

Pry(s)

Psst

Psych

Pwn(s)

Pygmy

Pyx

R

Rhy

Rhythm(s)

Rng

Rynd(s)

S

Scry

Sh

Shh

Shrthnd

Shy(ly)

Sknch

Sksksksk

Sky

Skyr

Sly(ly)

Spry(ly)

Spy

Sty

Stymy

Swy

Sylph(s)

Syn

Sync(s)

Synch(s)

Synd(s)

Sybyzgy

Syzygy

T

Thy

Thymy

Try

Tryp(s)

Tryst(s)

Tsk(s)

Tsktsk(s)

Twp

Twyndyllyng(s)

Tyg(s)

Typp(s)

Tyyn

V

Vly

W

Why(s)

Wss

Wyn(s)

Wynn

Wry (ly)

Wych

Wyn

Wynd(s)

Wynn(s)

X

Xlnt

Xylyl(s)

Xyst(s)

Y

Ympt

Z

Zzz(s)

Alphabetical list of words without vowels A, E, I, O, U, and Y.

B

Brr

Brrr

Bzzt

C

Ch

Crwth(s)

Cwm(s)

Cwtch

G

Grrl(s)

Grrr

Grrrl(s)

H

Hm

Hmm

Hmmm

M

Mhmm

Mm

Mmm

N

Nth

P

Pfft

Ph(s)

Phpht

Pht

Psst

Pwn(s)

R

Rng

S

Sh

Shh

Sknch

Sksksksk

T

Tsk(s)

Tsktsk(s)

Twp

W

Wss

X

Xlnt

Z

Zzz

Words without vowel sounds

Weak forms of function words may be realized without vowel sounds, as in I can go [aɪ kŋ̍ ˈɡoʊ] and I must sell [aɪ ms̩ ˈsɛl].[15] Some of these forms are reflected in orthography as contractions, such as 's, 'll, 'd, and n't.

See also

References

  1. "How to beat everyone at board games this Christmas". Yorkshire Post. Johnston Press Plc. December 21, 2007. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  2. "Are there any English words that have no vowels?". Dictionary.com Word FAQs. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  3. "Y, n.". OED Online. September 2012. Oxford University Press. 4 October 2012.
  4. "W, n.". OED Online. September 2012. Oxford University Press. 4 October 2012.
  5. Rogers, Bruce (1999). You Can Say That Again!: A Fun Approach to Sounding Better When You Open Your Mouth to Speak. Dumdum. p. 104. ISBN 9780888822086.
  6. Alan Peterson (December 27, 1986). "Why The Silly Season Can Be A Bit Short On Fun". Saturday Review. The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 24. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  7. Charlie Fidelman (May 28, 1992). "War Of The Words". News. Montreal Gazette. p. G8. Others memorize words without vowels: "crwth" for example, which means an ancient string instrument. Another is "phpht", defined as an interjection.
  8. Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood, 1954
  9. "The Longest Word in the Collins English Dictionary". Collins Dictionary website. 4 April 2012.
  10. Viva Sarah Press (February 15, 1999). "At Scrabble club, politics get no score: Jerusalem group, founded by ex-Montrealer, unites Israelis from across the spectrum". News. Montreal Gazette. p. A18.
  11. Chambers Dictionary
  12. Liddell & Scott
  13. Vendetti, Tyler (October 20, 2020). The Illustrated Compendium of Essential Modern Slang: Including Cray, Lit, Basic, and More. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781951511029 via Google Books.
  14. Strapagiel, Lauren (29 August 2019). "Like Most Slang, 'Sksksksk' Originated In Black And LGBTQ Communities". BuzzFeed News.
  15. Ladefoged, Peter; Johnson, Keith (2010). A Course in Phonetics (6th ed.). Wadsworth. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-42823126-9.
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