# Words with letters in alpha order **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 4, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877 "2012-11-04T20:00:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/1 "2012-11-04T20:00:44Z")
I’m at a restaurant and am arguing with my wife. Help me. She says ask you guys. What is the English word with the longest sequence of letters in alpha order?f ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/2 "2012-11-04T20:07:46Z")
[http://www.rinkworks.com/words/oddities.shtml](http://www.rinkworks.com/words/oddities.shtml) Aegilops, eight letters long, is the longest word whose letters are arranged in alphabetical order. Seven letter words with this property include beefily and billowy. Six letter words include abhors, accent, access, almost, biopsy, bijoux, billow, chintz, effort, and ghosty. ---
**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 4, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/3 "2012-11-04T20:18:39Z")
Are you allowing repetitions? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/4 "2012-11-04T20:21:43Z")
No repetitions if possible. Also, she asks what about not skipping. So consecutive alpha order. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/5 "2012-11-04T20:23:52Z")
There are individual words with the letters in alphabetical order, but would you even be able to make a complete sentence with all letters in that order? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/6 "2012-11-04T20:25:08Z")
_Big Bird singing_ “Ab-c-def-ghi-jkl-mnop-qr-stuv-wxyz, it’s the most unusual word I’ve ever seen…” ---
**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 4, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/7 "2012-11-04T20:31:15Z")
With no skipping, I don’t think you can do better than “hi” or “no”. There are no words that end with “wxy” or “xyz”, and while there are a handful without an a,e,i,o,u, or y, I doubt there would be any with the right surrounding letters. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/8 "2012-11-04T20:52:53Z")
Def Leppard would disagree with you. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/9 "2012-11-04T22:19:55Z")
Stuv, has 4 consecutive alphabetical letters, if you accept urban dictionary as a source: > **[Urban Dictionary: stuv](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=stuv)** > > someone too stupid to live, or an action that defines you as somebody too stupid to live ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/10 "2012-11-05T00:18:04Z")
Three-letter combos include crabcake, afghan, hijack, and a slew of R-S-T and S-T-U words. I’m unaware of any legitimate four-letter combos. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/11 "2012-11-05T02:22:34Z")
Understudy? ---
**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 5, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/12 "2012-11-05T02:31:08Z")
I wouldn’t be averse to accepting Urban Dictionary, but that particular entry is really weak. Three completely separate definitions (two of them mutually exclusive), with no consensus support for any of them. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/13 "2012-11-05T02:45:07Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > Understudy? Bravo! Related but perhaps not of interest to the OP, \*facetiously \*has all the vowels in alphabetical order. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/14 "2012-11-05T04:17:47Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Three-letter combos include crabcake, afghan, hijack, and a slew of R-S-T and S-T-U words. I’m unaware of any legitimate four-letter combos. > [@RadicalPi](#): > > Understudy? I stand corrected. Nice one! ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/15 "2012-11-05T13:24:04Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Bravo! > > Related but perhaps not of interest to the OP, \*facetiously \*has all the vowels in alphabetical order. Honestly, that’s where we started the discussion…with a question from one of the girls about vowels and words with consecutive vowels. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/16 "2012-11-05T13:38:48Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Bravo! > > Related but perhaps not of interest to the OP, \*facetiously \*has all the vowels in alphabetical order. So does _abstemiously_ ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/17 "2012-11-06T00:10:24Z")
FWIW, my 86 year old mother likes word puzzles - she cracked the facetiously and abstemiously puzzle in an hour or two. Wish I was that sharp… ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-letters-in-alpha-order/639877/18 "2012-11-06T02:36:32Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Three-letter combos include crabcake, afghan, hijack, and a slew of R-S-T and S-T-U words. Not sure where you stand on proper or trade names, but there’s Mnozil’s, a tavern in Vienna; Topquest, an automated college application site; Tuva, the republic in south Siberia known for its throat-singing; and Oxyzone, a maker of ozone generators.