# What Is The Rarest English Verb? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 28, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-rarest-english-verb/677376 "2013-12-28T23:20:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-rarest-english-verb/677376/61 "2014-01-01T01:46:25Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Also “hight.” Don’t forget “hight.” I had forgotten that word! The way you use odd words in everyday conversation is to kind of swallow them as you say them quickly and in an unmistakeable context. “Oh, him? He’s yclept ‘Bob.’” ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-rarest-english-verb/677376/62 "2014-01-02T00:22:05Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > …a marvellous Edwardian air of jiggery-pokery and earnest boffinism… A wonderful turn of phrase… worthy of PGW. Nowadays, I never seem to see people sauntering or trundling to wherever their are going. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-rarest-english-verb/677376/63 "2014-01-02T05:57:14Z")
There is no such thing as the “rarest English verb”. Different verbs are used in different contexts and it would be impossible to record all written examples of English to determine the “least used” verb. Positively, absolutely, impossible! ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-rarest-english-verb/677376/64 "2014-01-02T08:31:04Z")
from teledildonic we could derive “to teledildo” meaning “to use a teledildonic device.” Ex: She teledildoed herself all night long with her John. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-rarest-english-verb/677376/65 "2014-01-03T15:21:30Z")
thanks…how do you conjugate “ÿclept”? Is there a pluperfect form? ---
**Author:** ![StJoan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@StJoan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StJoan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-rarest-english-verb/677376/66 "2014-01-03T18:08:46Z")
Late to the party, as usual :(. Still, what about floccinaucinihilipilificate? Which means to estimate or dismiss something as worthless. It is probably rare simply because it is quite a mouthful. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-rarest-english-verb/677376/67 "2014-01-03T19:04:43Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > thanks…how do you conjugate “ÿclept”? Is there a pluperfect form? “Yclept” is the past participle of it; the infinitive is “to clepe”. The verb forms other than yclept (as in “an aptly yclept thing”) are not in usage any more, however. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-rarest-english-verb/677376.md?page=3)