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  #1  
Old 05-16-2012, 06:26 PM
JoseB JoseB is offline
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Words that have only one repeated vowel
The other day, while playing Scrabble, I started to think about words that have only one repeated vowel in them (like, for instance, "canasta").

I tried to see what was the longest word I could come up with that would have this particular characteristic. In English, my best efforts were:

-With some cheating, "Invisibility" (all vowels sound like short "I", but the last is written as "y").

-Without cheating, "catamaran".

Can you do better? Also, examples in other languages would be welcome
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  #2  
Old 05-16-2012, 06:41 PM
TriPolar TriPolar is offline
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Athapascan or Athabascan
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Old 05-16-2012, 06:46 PM
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does anyone pronounce the y in invisibility like short i
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Old 05-16-2012, 07:39 PM
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Old 05-16-2012, 07:57 PM
Giles Giles is online now
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"Abracadabra" has five a's. (It probably started off as a joke word.)
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Old 05-16-2012, 08:11 PM
Telperion Telperion is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JoseB View Post
-With some cheating, "Invisibility" (all vowels sound like short "I", but the last is written as "y").
Why not indivisibility?
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Old 05-17-2012, 07:02 AM
Ichbin Dubist Ichbin Dubist is offline
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defenselessness
peewee

voodoo
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Old 05-17-2012, 07:42 AM
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syzygy
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Old 05-17-2012, 08:12 AM
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bonobo
bikini
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Old 05-17-2012, 08:52 AM
JoseB JoseB is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PSXer View Post
does anyone pronounce the y in invisibility like short i

Well, I do, but then again, English is not my mother tongue
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Old 05-17-2012, 09:19 AM
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taramasalata
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Old 05-17-2012, 09:27 AM
Tom Scud Tom Scud is offline
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Mississippi (though defenselessness is longer).
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Old 05-17-2012, 09:30 AM
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Old 05-17-2012, 09:54 AM
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Malayalam!
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Old 05-17-2012, 09:55 AM
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usufruct
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Old 05-17-2012, 10:06 AM
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Dependence.
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Old 05-17-2012, 10:16 AM
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Old 05-17-2012, 11:16 AM
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Old 05-17-2012, 02:54 PM
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Last edited by astorian; 05-17-2012 at 02:55 PM.
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Old 05-17-2012, 03:20 PM
Annie-Xmas Annie-Xmas is offline
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Alabama has to have the highest single vowel/consonant ratio.
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Old 05-31-2012, 02:48 AM
terentii terentii is offline
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Tennessee.
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Old 05-31-2012, 03:49 PM
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  #23  
Old 11-12-2012, 07:26 PM
Vulfi Vulfi is offline
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Not cheating
"strengthened" has 12.
"enstrengthened" has 14, but I am pretty sure the word is obsolete.
Last edited by Vulfi; 11-12-2012 at 07:29 PM. Reason: Did not read earlier replies before posting!
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  #24  
Old 11-12-2012, 08:58 PM
Xema Xema is offline
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I don't guess I'll score real well with Oconomowoc (town in Wisconsin), but I had to mention it.
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  #25  
Old 11-13-2012, 03:05 AM
Cugel Cugel is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Annie-Xmas View Post
Alabama has to have the highest single vowel/consonant ratio.
Beats out Woolloomooloo
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  #26  
Old 11-13-2012, 03:28 AM
Tapioca Dextrin Tapioca Dextrin is offline
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Rhythms - only seven letters, but no AEIO or U's
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  #27  
Old 11-13-2012, 09:29 AM
Chronos Chronos is offline
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Surely, the highest vowel-to-consonant ratio is a tie between "I" and "a"? Or maybe "a'a", if you insist on the word being Scrabble tournament legal.
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  #28  
Old 11-13-2012, 09:46 AM
astorian astorian is offline
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relentlessness
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Old 11-13-2012, 09:48 AM
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Old 11-13-2012, 09:51 AM
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effervescence?
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  #31  
Old 11-13-2012, 10:15 AM
Beware of Doug Beware of Doug is offline
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This is a near miss, a nonword, and a non-single word, but there's a law firm called Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer.

Final score: E's 12, A's 1.
Last edited by Beware of Doug; 11-13-2012 at 10:19 AM.
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Old 11-13-2012, 11:03 AM
astorian astorian is offline
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dumbstruck
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  #33  
Old 11-13-2012, 01:10 PM
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Banana
Bananarama
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  #34  
Old 11-13-2012, 09:28 PM
echo7tango echo7tango is offline
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This one is a proper noun: CHRONONHOTONTHOLOGOS
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  #35  
Old 11-13-2012, 11:13 PM
Chronos Chronos is offline
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I'm pretty sure that's a mixture of omicrons and omegas in the original Greek, though.
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