I was asked yesterday to come up with a word that rhymes with “Orange”. It had to be a REAL rhyme, and I came up with “fringe” which to me is a real rhyme. However, the english teacher I was asked this by says that “fringe” is not a real rhyme for “orange”. I say it is because they both end in the same “ringe” sound. She says it has to be something like “borange” (which obviously isn’t a word) and thus she says there’s no word that rhymes with it (try every consonant and it doesn’t work).
What do you dopers think?
Another question: Is there any word in the english language that does not have a rhyming word? She also says “turquoise” does not have a rhyme either. I don’t believe it but so far I haven’t come up with anything.
Supposedly “orange” is one of the few words that don’t rhyme with anything. I think purple doesn’t either unless you go the Roger Miller route and say “maple surple” is a word. I don’t know about turquoise at all.
The definition of “rhyme” entails “terminal sounds” which is rather murky. Not terminal syllables, but terminal sounds. By that definition, your example qualifies.
However, digging a little deeper into OED, one definition (#3) says that “the last stressed vowel, and any sounds following it.” (My italics.) By that definition, your example does not qualify. I think that popular convention accepts this definition as being the “right” one, though.
Hmm, I can think of a few words that rhyme with “-ois” (particularly in French), but “-geois” is a little harder. “Schwa” is the unstressed vowel (mid, central, rounded, to be specific). “Renoir” works (with either a Boston or a French accent), and so does “patois”.
“Serve” seems to rhyme with “hors d’oeuvre”, and so would “swerve”, “verve”, and “curve”.