# "Cumulative" words **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611 "2012-05-02T07:31:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/1 "2012-05-02T07:31:31Z")
I’ve coined this term, because I’ve never heard of this concept, but there’s probably another word for it. I’m referring to words as “abcde…,” in which “a” is a word, “ab” is a word, “abc” is a word, etc. Obviously, in English, these words would have to begin with letters that can be words in and of themselves. Is there an existing name for these words? What is the longest such word in the English language? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/2 "2012-05-02T07:33:53Z")
Just in case someone requires an example, I think you’re talking about this phenomenon: He Her Hero Heroin Heroine Not sure there will be a term for this, as it’s interesting, but not very useful (in an everyday sense) ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/3 "2012-05-02T07:35:42Z")
To be clear, are you referring to a series such as: a an and Andy Or specifically a set of words in any language such as that it literally follows the standard lexicographic order of its alphabet? ETA: Nevermind, I assume Mangetout is probably right ---
**Author:** ![Molotok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Molotok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molotok)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/4 "2012-05-02T07:42:33Z")
I did a Google search, found nothing. The longest one of those I could think of was '‘noted’. ---
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/5 "2012-05-02T07:59:34Z")
> [@boomerwang](#): > > I did a Google search, found nothing. The longest one of those I could think of was '‘noted’. Is ‘n’ a word though? ‘Amides’ is a six letter example. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/6 "2012-05-02T09:36:45Z")
> [@hammos1](#): > > Is ‘n’ a word though? There’s an entry for it in the dictionary. Some people seem to think that makes it a word. I checked Borgmann’s _Language on Vacation_ and he calls them curtailments, obviously looking at it as removing letters, but it comes out to the same thing. His examples are **pasterns, reversers** and **albertines**. Looking up any unfamiliar words is an exercise for the reader. I haven’t checked Word Ways yet; it’s too late at night. Perhaps tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/7 "2012-05-02T09:38:42Z")
> [@hammos1](#): > > Is ‘n’ a word though? “Would you like to save your file? y | n \> n” Granted that’s an abbreviation, but if we want to be generous I’d say you could consider exceedingly common abbreviations as words themselves. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/8 "2012-05-02T09:49:18Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Just in case someone requires an example, I think you’re talking about this phenomenon: > > He > Her > Hero > Heroin > Heroine I think he’s interested in those sequences where you add only one letter, not two, to the end of the previous word. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/9 "2012-05-02T09:51:51Z")
> [@hammos1](#): > > Is ‘n’ a word though? Sure. Every single letter is a word referring to the letter, or the letter’s form. And some of them have additional meanings as well. For example, Merriam–Webster defines “n” as (among other things) “an indefinite number; especially : a constant integer or a variable taking on integral values”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/10 "2012-05-02T09:54:57Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I think he’s interested in those sequences where you add only one letter, not two, to the end of the previous word. Not sure. One category is a superset of the other anyway. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/11 "2012-05-02T09:55:07Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > I checked Borgmann’s _Language on Vacation_ and he calls them curtailments… I haven’t checked Word Ways yet; it’s too late at night. Perhaps tomorrow. _Word Ways_ calls them curtailments too. Here’s [an example from a 1976 issue](http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol9/iss1/23/). ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/12 "2012-05-02T10:02:10Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Not sure. One category is a superset of the other anyway. If you’re not going to care about how many letters you add to the end of the word, then the exercise of finding the longest such word is trivial: it is simply the longest word in the English language, and the sequence of accumulations contains (at minimum) its first letter, and the entire word. Under your definition, a more interesting problem than the one posed by the OP is to find the longest sequence, rather than the longest word. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/13 "2012-05-02T10:21:54Z")
I think they can only start with A, I, or O. Best I can come up with is I id ide (Collins English Dictionary) idea ideal ideals or a as ass asse (Random House Dictionary) asses / asset assess / assets ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/14 "2012-05-03T03:40:21Z")
Here’s one I found years ago, but have never mentioned to anyone. Unfortunately, it uses an abbreviation, albeit a very common one: c co (=company) cos (lettuce) cost costa costar costard costards All the words can be found on [M-W online](http://www.merriam-webster.com/) > [@Ximenean](#): > > I think they can only start with A, I, or O. Why? Isn’t C the speed of light as well as a commonly used computer language? Why can’t it be used? **psychonaut** , are you a subscriber to Word Ways, too? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/15 "2012-05-03T05:36:39Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I think he’s interested in those sequences where you add only one letter, not two, to the end of the previous word. Yes. Beginning with one letter, then adding one more at a time. And I’d consider A, I and O to be the only true 1-letter words. The others are more like symbols (not implying that all words aren’t symbols). ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/16 "2012-05-03T06:07:25Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > **psychonaut** , are you a subscriber to Word Ways, too? I used to be, but I had to let my subscription lapse for lack of time for reading. Maybe in the future I will resubscribe. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/17 "2012-05-03T07:42:21Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > If you’re not going to care about how many letters you add to the end of the word, then the exercise of finding the longest such word is trivial: it is simply the longest word in the English language, and the sequence of accumulations contains (at minimum) its first letter, and the entire word. > > Under your definition, a more interesting problem than the one posed by the OP is to find the longest sequence, rather than the longest word. Agreed- it isn’t interesting at all if there isn’t a series of more than two words. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/18 "2012-05-03T08:48:20Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I used to be, but I had to let my subscription lapse for lack of time for reading. Maybe in the future I will resubscribe. 🙂 I almost did the same, but then I found that if I put the latest issue in the bathroom, I’d get it read while doing other business. Those who consider A, I and O as the only one letter words have a rather limited idea of words. Most dictionaries have every letter listed as a noun in addition to any symbolic meanings and abbreviations. And you can’t tell me C (as in the programming language) is either a symbol or abbreviation. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/19 "2012-05-03T09:10:01Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Those who consider A, I and O as the only one letter words have a rather limited idea of words. Most dictionaries have every letter listed as a noun in addition to any symbolic meanings and abbreviations. And you can’t tell me C (as in the programming language) is either a symbol or abbreviation. C, as in the programming language, is a proper noun. Generally in word games of this type proper nouns are not allowed. _c_, when used to mean the speed of light for example, is listed under “symbols” in dictionaries that I have looked at. So not everything listed in a dictionary is necessarily a word. You may be on firmer ground with the idea that C is the name of the letter C itself, but if it counts as a noun at all I’d consider it a proper noun. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611/20 "2012-05-03T14:11:42Z")
If we limit ourselves to “familiar” words (i.e., words that you might hear in conversation), there is: a an ant ants antsy [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cumulative-words/620611.md?page=2)