Off topic: Rare type of English words Thread poster: craigs
| craigs Local time: 02:55 English to Portuguese + ...
How can I resist another game?! Several words in the English language have three sets of double letters (such as committee). However very few have three sets that are consecutive (no letters in between them). In fact I can think of only one. How many do you know in either category? If you are wondering which one I know, read the following hint. If you don't want the hint, skim past the next line; and for your sake, it ... See more How can I resist another game?! Several words in the English language have three sets of double letters (such as committee). However very few have three sets that are consecutive (no letters in between them). In fact I can think of only one. How many do you know in either category? If you are wondering which one I know, read the following hint. If you don't want the hint, skim past the next line; and for your sake, it is spelled backwards. nairarbil a ot nika ▲ Collapse | | | Nesrin United Kingdom Local time: 06:55 English to Arabic + ...
Wouldn't have found it without the hint though! | | | Stephen Rifkind Israel Local time: 09:55 Member (2004) French to English + ...
is the second one. Also, skiing is the only word I know that has double i. Stephen Rifkind | | |
And don't forget the double "u" in vacuum. | |
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lexical Spain Local time: 07:55 Portuguese to English Knightsbridge | May 6, 2007 |
Knightsbridge - the name of a district in London - is said to be the English word with the largest number of uninterrupted consonants - 6. | | | Jan Willem van Dormolen (X) Netherlands Local time: 07:55 English to Dutch + ... Angstschreeuw | May 6, 2007 |
Talking about consecutive consonants - this is the Dutch winner, 8 consonants in a row. The word means 'cry of fear'. We used to have a pretty neat one with vowels (7!) too: koeieuier (cow's udder), but since the spelling reform of a couple of years back, we now are supposed to write 'koeienuier', which is really bad. Any better ones in other languages? | | | Jack Doughty United Kingdom Local time: 06:55 Russian to English + ... In memoriam
The Russian word "бодрствовать" (bodrstvovat), meaning to keep awake, or keep vigil, has more consecutive consonants than any other word I know in that language; only five, but unlike Knightsbridge, they are all pronounced. There is a Russian tongue-twister: "Он бодрствовал в Пскове" (on bodrstvoval v Pskove), meaning: he kept vigil in Pskov.
[Edited at 2007-05-06 09:17] | | | German and Italian | May 6, 2007 |
As for German, Geschichtsschreibung (historiography) is the first that comes to my mind - 8 consonants in a row. I don't think any Italian word has more than 3, but the word "cuoiaio" (tanner) has no less than 6 vowels in a row | |
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eesegura Local time: 01:55 Spanish to English + ...
Bookkeeping (or other variations of bookkeep) is the only English word I know of that has three consecutive double letters. Cheers. Oops! - just saw the previous entry! But I didn't need the hint, as I learned this in high school. Thanks for the reminder!
[Edited at 2007-05-06 16:12] | | | Jim Tucker (X) United States Hungarian to English + ... Similar but different | May 6, 2007 |
If memory serves, the Dutch word "tweeerlei" (of two sorts") is pretty neat, in that it has the same letter three times in a row. (Though I think it should have a diaeresis on the last e - still, it's the same letter). | | | Prokop Vantuch Czech Republic Local time: 07:55 Member (2005) English to Czech + ... Strč prst skrz krk. | May 7, 2007 |
In Czech we have this whole sentence containing only consontants. It is widely known and used as a tonguetwister. Prokop --------- www.joey.cz | | | few more words with three sets of consecutive double letters | May 7, 2007 |
HOOFFOOTED, VENEER-ROOM, & TOOT-TOOT. Also, I have heard that TAXI is spelled the same way in at least 14 languages: English, Hindi, French, German, Swedish, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Czech, Slovak, Portuguese, Urdu. any other language in this row? Language Aide | |
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Zamira B. United Kingdom Local time: 06:55 Member (2006) English to Russian + ... One more from 'committee' type | May 7, 2007 |
craigs wrote: How many do you know in either category? addressee. Actually two so far. The second is 'aggressiveness'.
[Edited at 2007-05-07 11:12] | | | Nadine Kahn Germany Local time: 07:55 English to German + ... I'm not sure... | May 7, 2007 |
... but I think some of the words you've mentioned need a hyphen in between. | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Rare type of English words Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
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