2006-07-01 16:00:16 · 22 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
The answer is "yes", BUT those who think the answer is a word with a y or w are mistaken.
The y in "sky" and "try" IS a vowel, 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, "y" (which was *originally* a vowel, NOT a consonant at all) 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
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Another one sometimes cited is "nth".
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, perhaps part of the issue here is the idea that "you can't SAY a word without a vowel!" Well, that's 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).
2006-07-03 20:25:32 · answer #1 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
vowles, no words have vowles. All words have vowels. Sorry, I just wanted the points.
2006-07-01 16:04:18 · answer #2 · answered by dizzyduckie1974 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ha ha... dvd...thats an acronym....anyways, technically , no there is no words in the english language that dont contain vowels, because the rule is " and sometimes y", so if your not soooo critical , than i think the word "rhythm" is probably the closest your going to get to no vowels.....the 3 letter words above, are not correct, because the letter "Y" is consider more so a vowel at the end of a word, than at any oother time .....look it up :)
2006-07-01 16:09:09 · answer #3 · answered by chitowndub 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The one word that comes to mind for me is the word "cwm". It's from the Dutch and is the only word which has the letter "w" functioning as a vowel. It is pronounced like "koom" and is a pool-like basin in a mountain.
2006-07-01 16:04:44 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are plenty of words that don't have vowELs. Just not English words (remember that y is used as a vowel in place of a,e,i,o,u). Some Gaelic and Slavic words don't use vowels, and I'm sure there are other languages as well.
2006-07-03 11:47:01 · answer #5 · answered by LoonieGirl 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No there are no words that do not have any vowels.All words have vowels. This is not including abreviations; TV, DVD, PSP...etc. Also words that do not have the regular vowels have instead the letter "y". " a,e,i,o,u, and sometimes y". These words might include; why, fly, thy, by, rhythim, cycle and many other words. But all words will contain vowels.
2006-07-01 16:07:22 · answer #6 · answered by Angemonic 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here are all of the words that I can think of: hm, mm, sh, brr, shh, hmm, nth, pht, tsk, brrr, pfft, tsks, psst, phpht, tsktsk, tsktsks.
Words with 'y' in them can't possibly count as consonants because 'y' plays dual parts in the alphabet, and it's a vowel in those cases such as spryly, psychs, and nymph. Words like cwm and crwth can't count either because, like the person above me stated, the 'w' plays as a vowel in these words, posing as the 'oo' sound.
2006-07-07 08:37:49 · answer #7 · answered by bubbacrackin 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no.
In hymn etc. the 'y' acts as a vowel
in cwm (Dutch word sited) the w is a vowel (as it is in cow)
In English, a syllable is generally CVC (hymn), CV (cow) or VC (it). It can even be V (awe--pronounced a as in father)
2006-07-02 03:43:46 · answer #8 · answered by frauholzer 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What about hm or shh? Those might not even be real words.
We need someone who is really good at Scrabble to answer this question!
2006-07-01 16:05:37 · answer #9 · answered by shortiepickles 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
tsk, hmm, brr, shh, grrr, zzzzz, psst, mmmm
Don't know if any of these are words, but they are all I can think of without a vowel or y.
P.S. Someone said these were from another post; nth, cwm, nth. But I don't know...
2006-07-01 16:10:02 · answer #10 · answered by ditzychik508 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋