English words with double letters

[Northern_Piper]

@Prof.Pepperwinkle

sayyid

Excellent!

aardvark
bubble
accomodate
addition
freeze
off
goggles
withhold (are there any other double “h” words?)
skiing
hajj
bookkeeper
all
lemming
announce
moon
happy
qq? (equivalent to dividing by zero, I think)
terrible
glass
letter
vacuum (I think this is the only double uu in English?)
savvy
powwow
doxxing
sayyid
blizzard

Unless someone can find a bizzare double qq:

That's All Folks HD

[Walken_After_Midnight]

Plural of radius is radii (or radiuses) from Latin plural word ending.

[Treppenwitz]

@Elendil_s_Heir

Skiing, yes, the first double-I word I thought of. And if there’s another, I can’t think of it at the moment.

Taxiing?

j

[commasense]

@Northern_Piper

vacuum (I think this is the only double uu in English?)

Continuum

ETA: muumuu

[hibernicus]

You had a “mm” word in your OP - or would have had had you spelt “accommodate” correctly!

[commasense]

@Northern_Piper

withhold (are there any other double “h” words?)

Fishhook
Roughhewn
Withheld

[Northern_Piper]

@hibernicus

You had a “mm” word in your OP - or would have had had you spelt “accommodate” correctly!

I plead early morning! I actually thought to myself: “m is a pretty common letter but I can’t think of a word” and left it to the Dopers.

[Northern_Piper]

@commasense

Fishhook
Roughhewn
Withheld

Excellent!

[Northern_Piper]

@commasense

Continuum

ETA: muumuu

those are good as well

[Northern_Piper]

@Treppenwitz

Taxiing?

it’s been so long since I’ve been on a flight, what with covid and all…

[Max_S]

@Northern_Piper

Unless someone can find a bizzare double qq

Up to you if you want either of these to count as borrowed words.

I’ve rarely seen “seqq” and “et seqq” as an abbreviation for Latin “et sequentes”, meaning ‘in the following’. Usually it’s abbreviated “et seq” though. Compare “etc” and “et cetera”.

There’s a Middle Eastern spice blend that is translated with two (silent) 'q’s or 'k’s. My dictionary uses “dukka” or “dukkah”, but often times I see it in stores as “duqqa”.

~Max

[Q.Q.Switcheroo]

Hi there!

…well, carry on…

[Ludovic]

@Prof.Pepperwinkle

There’s chivvy: to nag at someone to do something

At first I misread this as “chavvy”!

[Treppenwitz]

@Max_S

I’ve rarely seen “seqq” and “et seqq” as an abbreviation for Latin “et sequentes”, meaning ‘in the following’. Usually it’s abbreviated “et seq” though. Compare “etc” and “et cetera”.

You resisted

cf "etc” and “et cetera”

?

Much respect!

j

BTW I agree with both seqq and duqqa. More respect! But not as much as for the above.

[Peter_Morris]

ASCII
genii

@commasense

@Northern_Piper

withhold (are there any other double “h” words?)

Fishhook
Roughhewn
Withheld

bathhouse
hitchhike
beachhead
highhanded

[LSLGuy]

An interesting side-discussion is how many double-letters from A-Z can we come up without using compound words?

So far, all the “hh”, “kk”, and “ww” words posted are clear compounds where both of the sub-words are in common use in their own right and with stand-alone meanings that map directly to their role in the compound word. All the other words I can quickly think of for those three letters are also compounds.

Yes, I admit the definition of a compound word is at least a bit subjective; compounds that entered the language enough centuries ago seem to us to be plain single words, while ones created just recently, e.g. chatbot, still seem like clearly two separate words glued together.

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@LSLGuy

So far, all the “hh”, “kk”, and “ww” words posted are clear compounds where both of the sub-words are in common use in their own right and with stand-alone meanings that map directly to their role in the compound word. All the other words I can quickly think of for those three letters are also compounds.

Yes, I admit the definition of a compound word is at least a bit subjective; compounds that entered the language enough centuries ago seem to us to be plain single words, while ones created just recently, e.g. chatbot, still seem like clearly two separate words glued together.

Until we find some, let’s just keep yakking.

[Prof.Pepperwinkle]

@LSLGuy

An interesting side-discussion is how many double-letters from A-Z can we come up without using compound words?

So far, all the “hh”, “kk”, and “ww” words posted are clear compounds where both of the sub-words are in common use in their own right and with stand-alone meanings that map directly to their role in the compound word. All the other words I can quickly think of for those three letters are also compounds.

Yes, I admit the definition of a compound word is at least a bit subjective; compounds that entered the language enough centuries ago seem to us to be plain single words, while ones created just recently, e.g. chatbot, still seem like clearly two separate words glued together.

Ahh, oww!

[Northern_Piper]

Not necessarily for “powwow”, although it is sometimes spelt with a hyphen.

According to etymology.com, it likely comes from an Algonquian language, as powwaw, so it doesn’t sound like a compound word.

powwow | Etymology, origin and meaning of powwow by etymonline

[LSLGuy]

@The_Other_Waldo_Pepper

Until we find some, let’s just keep yakking.

Good one.

Which also points out a helpful feature of English: when adding “ing” to a word ending in a consonant, we often double that final consonant. If we wanted to rule those “-ing” endings as out of bounds we’d have yet a different permutation of the game.

@Prof.Pepperwinkle

Ahh, oww!

With due respect, onomatopoeia is almost but not quite cheating. How exactly does one spell a Bronx cheer? I bet it’s one of the few English words with 5 (or is it 6?) consecutive Rs in it. Admittedly, your two examples are much more mainstream real words than mine.