# Is "winningest" a real word? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 26, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662 "2012-01-26T01:05:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662/21 "2012-01-26T07:27:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The biggest exception is that two syllable words ending with an “ee” sound (funny, happy, lonely, etc.) generally take the “-er” and “-est” comparative and superlative endings. Not that that applies here. It might not apply specifically, but it has tangential relevance because such adjectives are almost always two syllables, with the stress on the first syllable. There are other common adjectives that have this profile, and will be used in either way such as _ **stupidest** _ / _ **most stupid** _, _ **simplest** _ / _ **most simple** _, etc., both spoken and written in informal contexts. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t get this for common adjectives that don’t follow this pattern, (e.g., stress on the last syllable, such as _ **alive** _, _ **afraid** _, _ **complete** _, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662/22 "2012-01-27T23:35:06Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The OED gives it as 1974. > > But certainly it’s a real word. You understand its meaning, don’t you? Well, I had to think about it the first time I heard it. > [@](#): > > People use it in speech, don’t they? And that’s a darn shame! It just sounds off to me. Like if someone said “Einstein is extraordinarier than Hawking.” ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662/23 "2012-01-28T00:44:03Z")
I have no problem with winningest, which currently has a red squiggly line under it as I have typed it, but don’t get me started on funner and funnest. Blech. And I think those are gaining acceptance as real words now -\_- ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662/24 "2012-01-28T00:59:26Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > It’s a verb which has been adjectified (which can weird language a bit, but is technically legal). It’s how we embiggen languages. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662/25 "2012-01-29T16:17:50Z")
When Judge Crater disappeared, the press called him " the Missingest Man in New York." > **[Joseph Force Crater](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Force_Crater)** > > Joseph Force Crater (January 5, 1889 – disappeared August 6, 1930; declared legally dead June 6, 1939) was a New York State Supreme Court Justice who mysteriously vanished amid a political scandal. He was last seen leaving a restaurant on West 45th Street in Manhattan and entered popular culture as one of the most mysterious missing persons cases of the 20th century. Despite massive publicity, the case was never solved and was officially closed forty years after Crater was declared dead. > Josep... ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662/26 "2012-01-29T16:37:33Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I have no problem with winningest, which currently has a red squiggly line under it as I have typed it, but don’t get me started on funner and funnest. Blech. And I think those are gaining acceptance as real words now -\_- I don’t see anything wrong with them. I admit, I don’t think I’ve heard “funner” in speech, but “funnest” sounds completely unobjectionable to me. Are there any other exceptions for one-syllable adjectives that don’t take an -er or -est ending in the comparative and superlative? I can’t think of any. While I’m always arguing against trying to use logic when discussing the English language, that’s a weird exception to me. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662/27 "2012-01-29T17:28:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t see anything wrong with them. I admit, I don’t think I’ve heard “funner” in speech, but “funnest” sounds completely unobjectionable to me. Are there any other exceptions for one-syllable adjectives that don’t take an -er or -est ending in the comparative and superlative? I can’t think of any. While I’m always arguing against trying to use logic when discussing the English language, that’s a weird exception to me. FWIW [Merriam-Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/funnest) recognizes “funnest” as a superlative form of “fun” that is “sometimes” used. I used to teach English overseas, and I remember the rule given by the textbook about superlatives. It said the “most \” form was always acceptable, but that adjectives of 1-2 syllables one could take the “-est” ending instead. Adjectives of three or more syllables should never take the “-est” ending. It said the “-est” form was generally the more common one for 1-2 syllable adjectives, but that when in doubt students should go with “most \”. Being a native English speaker I’d never learned or even really thought about any such rule for superlatives, but this did seem to me to correctly describe common English usage. A girl could be the smartest and prettiest one in her class, but not the intelligentest and beautifulest…although I see Firefox’s spellcheck does recognize “beautifulest” as a word. Anyway, “most smart” and “most pretty” sound awkward, but “intelligentest” and “beautifulest” sound _ignorant_. I guess it’s because this sort of over-consistency (that is, consistently applying a language rule like “superlatives take the -est ending” that actually has many exceptions) is the sort of thing small children do when they’re learning to speak. As for the OP, I don’t think I’ve ever heard to word “winningest” used before. Before opening the thread and reading the context I would have taken it to be a superlative form of “winning” in the sense of being appealing or attractive. As in, “She’s the prettiest girl with the winningest smile.” Using it to mean “has won the most often” sounds stupid to me, but I don’t follow sports at all so I can’t really judge how common the usage is. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662/28 "2012-01-29T17:45:51Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > FWIW [Merriam-Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/funnest) recognizes “funnest” as a superlative form of “fun” that is “sometimes” used. > > I used to teach English overseas, and I remember the rule given by the textbook about superlatives. It said the “most \” form was always acceptable, but that adjectives of 1-2 syllables one could take the “-est” ending instead. Adjectives of three or more syllables should never take the “-est” ending. It said the “-est” form was generally the more common one for 1-2 syllable adjectives, but that when in doubt students should go with “most \”. I remember the rule as “-er” and “-est” is always OK for one-syllable words, never for three-syllable words, and it can go either way for two-syllable words (with two syllable words ending with an “ee” sound, like “pretty”, being okay with “-er” and “-est.”) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662/29 "2012-01-29T18:40:47Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > P.S. I checked in Merriam-Webster, and they have “winningest” as a valid word, dating from 1972. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > The OED gives it as 1974. 1854, James Fenimore Cooper, page 500, _[The Pathfinder](http://books.google.com/books?id=rIM3ON_E6LQC&dq=winningest&pg=PA500#v=onepage&q=winningest&f=false)_: > [@](#): > > “Now, Jasper owns that the very first time he beheld you, he thought you the sweetest and \*\*winning-\*_est creatur_ \*\*he had \*\*ever met;” That is the earliest mention I could find, but there are [125 other uses between 1850 and 1910](https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=winningest&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan%201_2%201850,cd_max:Dec%2031_2%201910&num=100)that reflect our modern understanding and spelling of the word. By the early 1950’s, it is [everywhere in a sports context](https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=winningest&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan%201_2%201910,cd_max:Dec%2031_2%201960&num=100). ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662/30 "2012-01-29T22:21:37Z")
It’s a perfectly valid word. It’s also an ugly, ugly word. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662/31 "2012-01-30T02:36:03Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Why? Not even Merriam-Webster lists “common usage” among its [definition](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/word) for “word.” Honest question: In your mind, what process creates words if “common usage” doesn’t? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-winningest-a-real-word/610662.md?page=1)