Are there any words in the English language that don't contain vowels? Local paper reckons crwth is a word.

Answer 1

English words containing all consonants include: brr, crwth, cwm, hmm, mm, nth, pfft, pht, psst, QT (meaning 'quiet'), shh, and tsktsk (and some of them have plurals). Words with only vowels are: aa, ai, aiaiai, eau, euouae, oe.

Answer 2

Twyndyllyngs is the longest word in English that doesn't contain one of the five vowels (AEIOU). It comes from Welsh and is obviously rare, but it does appear in the Oxford English Dictionary.


There are many others. Some of the examples are:

* 1 Crypts
* 2 Crwth
* 3 cwm
* 4 lynx
* 5 Ng
* 6 nth
* 7 psst
* 8 rhythm
* 9 nymph
* 10 my

Answer 3

Rhythm is probably the only example of a vowel-less word, however Y is sometimes considered a vowel.

You could also count lynx, crypt and nymph if you were okay with Y not being a vowel. And even the word my.

The word crwth is Welsh and not English.

Answer 4

One of the failings of the educational systems in English speaking countries is they no longer seem to teach the basics; Y is a vowel, except in the initial position. That is the Ys in yet and yes are consonents, but in try, fly, thyme and rhythm, the Ys are vowels.

W is, as its name suggests, a "double U", and was written that way into the 17th century. In english that sound was a consonant, usually, but until spelling became standardized in the 18th century, it could also be used as a vowel, and was sometimes. Most words in which W is used as a vowel are loanwords from Welsh.

(BTW, V started out as a variant of U as well, because U could be either a vowel or a consonant, depending on where it was in a word. L and R also have some characteristics of vowels, as can be heard among those English speakers who pronounce water as Wa-tah.)

Answer 5

Crwth is an archaic stringed instrument usually associated with Wales. I don't know if it would pass as an English word. Longest English word without vowels is rhythm

Answer 6

No. All english words must contain at least one vowel per syllable. With all due respect, your local paper is out to lunch. "Crwth" doesn't even remotely look like anything I recognise.

Answer 7

I had a chat once with a friend from England. He told me that "y" is not considered a vowel over there. In US schools, (at least in my US school), it is taught "a,e,i,o,u and sometimes y"

But yes, cwm and crwth appear in Webster's Dictionary, using "w" as a vowel. (double "u")

I personally don't believe that "words" formed onomatopoeically, like psst, brrr, shhh are really words. But, since the vocabulary police think they are, I'll use them in a game of Scrabble.

Answer 8

there are many words such as those ending in ry
cry dry fry pry try wry
or even rhythm

Answer 9

There are words which do not have vowel: Cry ,MY,Sky,Try,Fly,Shy.

Answer 10

my, by,cry,fry,dry, try,fly,gym, myrrh, rhythm,crwth (an ancient Celtic stringed instrument) ,cwm (a bowl-shaped mountain basin)

BY HM MM MY SH BRR BYS CRY CWM DRY FLY FRY GYM GYP HMM HYP NTH PHT PLY PRY PYX SHH SHY SKY SLY SPY STY SYN THY TRY TSK WHY WRY WYN BRRR BYRL CWMS CYST DRYS GYMS GYPS HYMN HYPS LYNX MYTH PFFT PSST RYND SCRY SPRY SYNC SYPH TSKS TYPP TYPY WHYS WYCH WYND WYNN WYNS XYST BYRLS CRWTH CRYPT CYSTS DRYLY FLYBY GHYLL GLYPH GYPSY HYMNS LYMPH LYNCH MYRRH MYTHS MYTHY NYMPH PHPHT PSYCH PYGMY RYNDS SHYLY SLYLY STYMY SYLPH SYNCH SYNCS SYNTH SYPHS THYMY TRYST TYPPS WRYLY WYNDS WYNNS XYLYL XYSTS CRWTHS CRYPTS FLYBYS FLYSCH GHYLLS GLYCYL GLYPHS LYMPHS MYRRHS NYMPHS PSYCHS RHYTHM SPRYLY SYLPHS SYLPHY SYNCHS SYNTHS SYZYGY TRYSTS TSKTSK XYLYLS GLYCYLS RHYTHMS TSKTSKS

This list provided courtesy of the gang at http://TucsonScrabble.com.
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