What is a 3 letter word with no vowels?

Question

What is a 3 letter word with no vowels?

Answer 1

FIRST, those who think the answer is a word with a y or w are mistaken.

The y in "sky" and "try" IS a vowel (not just a 'sorta-vowel', a real one!), so that won't work.

The problem is the same with "cwm" (a Welsh word pronounced "coom") in which the w is functioning as a vowel.

Actually, functions as a vowel much more often than as a consonant, and w can be the equivalent of u (mostly in the combinations aw, ew, ow, which are equivalent to au, eu, ou)..
(compare http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxword00.html)

The basic rule is this -- y or w at the BEGINNING of a syllable areused as conanants, in the middle of end of of syllables they mark VOWELS.

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There ARE words without vowel SOUNDS (and in which none of the letters indicates a vowel). They are various "interjections", such as the following:

brr
grr
bzz [though more often written "buzz"]
tsk
shh
hmm
psst
mm-hmm

Several of these, as you can see, fit your three-letter limit. I believe "nth" is the only other one in English.

For a fun list of other words without vowels --mostly one-time inventions by individual authors-- check out http://www.oneletterwords.com/consonant/index.html (Warning -- it may be that the author may mistakenly include some words in which w and especially y are used as vowels, but still a fun read.)

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In one sense a word like "nth" is cheating. Though we write it without a vowel, we pronounce it WITH a vowel SOUND (as if it were "enth"). Similarly, "brr" is often pronounced as "burr" and "grr" may slip in a vowel sound (to rhyme with "her"). And "tsk", if pronounced as originally intended, is spoken hardly anything like it is written.

The very BEST then, are "hmm" [and "mm-hmm"] (both best spoken without ever opening your mouth) and "shh".

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Finally, about the idea that "you can't SAY a word without a vowel!" Not quite true. It's more accurate to say you can't pronounce a word without a "continuant", that is, a sound in which air is allowed to continue moving (as opposed to "stops" -- b, d, g, k, p, t -- which stop the air flow). Vowels are the most common and useful of the continuants but there are many others. The favorites for interjections and imitative sounds (like the list above) are m, r and the sibilants (that is, "s"-sounds - s, z, sh).

Answer 2

Any 3-letter word with no vowels would have a "y" in it, which gives the "i" sound.

Answer 3

Even the smallest words, which are I and A, include a vowel. There are no words that have just consonants. In fact, it is very difficult to pronounce consonants clearly without a vowel

Answer 4

Since "y" IS in fact a vowel (sort of), the only English word that could be considered to consists of three consonants is "cwm," a word of Welsh origin that means "valley." I'm not kidding. Look it up.

Answer 5

Y is not a vowel in English. The longest word I know without a vowel is rhythm.

Answer 6

Assuming 'y' is sometimes a vowel, the only answer I know to this question is "nth," meaning ultimate. In a sentence: She presses my buttons to the nth degree.

Answer 7

No- "What" is a four letter word with a vowel
:_)

Answer 8

It depends if your counting y as a vowel

Answer 9

sky
try
fry
pry
dry

(assuming that y is not technically a vowel it just acts like one)

Answer 10

Fly, Try, Pry, Ply, Dry, Cry