# Orange and purple - any others? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2000, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367 "2000-11-15T21:47:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/1 "2000-11-15T21:47:53Z")
Nothing rhymes with orange or purple, or so I have been told (and I can’t think of anything). Are there any other English words that have no rhyming partners? And isn’t it weird that these two are both colors? ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/2 "2000-11-15T22:01:28Z")
Another color – **silver**! Though here’s a [nifty site](http://www.bungalow.com/rhyme.html) that purports to find rhymes for all three colors. Also, I found in my old Funk & Wagnall’s the word _chilver_, a provincial English term for some kinda meat. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/3 "2000-11-15T22:10:12Z")
**silver** you could sloppily rhyme with **pilfer** , **orange** with **door hinge** , and everybody who ever had an older brother knows that the rhyme for **purple** is **nurple**. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/4 "2000-11-15T22:17:44Z")
Well, if you’re looking for common words other than colors that don’t have strict rhymes, there’s always “month”, “carpet”, and “penguin”. Besides, as it was once said (by Stephen Sondheim): To find a rhyme for silver, Or any rhymeless rhyme, Requires only will, ver- Bosity and time. ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/5 "2000-11-15T22:23:12Z")
Yeah, and while we’re on the subject of cruddy, forced rhymes, here’s _another_ to match silver. It’s nineteenth-century, but I forget the source: [list]_Argentum_, we know, Is the Latin for silver; And the Latin for spring Always was, and is still, _ver_. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/6 "2000-11-15T22:30:07Z")
In the words of the Roger Miller song, _Dang Me:_ Roses are red And violets are purple Sugar is sweet and so’s maple syrple. ---
**Author:** ![ren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@ren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ren)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/7 "2000-11-15T23:37:54Z")
How about “penguin” and “sanguine”? Almost… ---
**Author:** ![kidchaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kidchaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchaos)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/8 "2000-11-16T06:26:56Z")
there’s always the name “nigel”, unless you count where the aliens on the simpsons are from, Rigel 7 and if we’re going with sloppy rhymes, you could go almost anywhere with regional accents: “water” with “outta” (Boston) etc. ---
**Author:** ![MattTheCroc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MattTheCroc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MattTheCroc)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/9 "2000-11-16T07:44:24Z")
I’m pretty sure there’s a star named Rigel out there. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/10 "2000-11-16T08:21:43Z")
There ARE words that rhyme with orange: Door hinge ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/11 "2000-11-16T13:54:42Z")
How many weeks are in a month? Four, as the still moon run’eth. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/12 "2000-11-16T16:28:03Z")
Well…[with my Lung Guylund accent] The penguin, in his new skin The wee pet, on the carpet The month…well, there’s kinda of a match there too, but only for use in off-colour limericks ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/13 "2000-11-16T19:43:24Z")
Rigel is Beta Orionis, a B2 star which is the second-brightest star in Orion (actually usually the brightest… Alpha Ori, Betelgeuse, is variable). You can see it in the evenings this time of year, towards the south. We’ve covered unrhymable words before, but I’m too lazy at the moment to dig up the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Suo\_Na](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@Suo\_Na](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suo_Na)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange-and-purple-any-others/41367/14 "2000-11-16T19:49:07Z")
As I’ve said before, syringe and phalange also rhyme with orange, if you include feminine rhymes.