In Word Ways #3, Dmitri Borgmann posed a challenge we’re now better equipped to answer.
Every seven-letter word is a combination of vowels and consonants. Treating these as binary (rounding y up to a vowel), we can conclude that there are 2^7 combinations, or 128. Such combos are worth researching. They can point to other lexical oddities or aid in puzzle design.
Borgmann found all-vowel and all-consonant examples and skipped over words with three vowels or four vowels. Where there were only one or two vowels or consonants, he couldn’t quite complete the list or found his entries a bit strained.
Here’s a selection from his one- and two-vowel entries:
And his one- and two-consonsant ones:
As for his all-vowel and all-consonant entries…
This is no less ambitious a project in 2024 than in 1968. But now we have immediate access to meta-dictionaries like OneLook that are searchable by vowel-and-consonant pattern. The sequel to Borgmann’s project below includes all the possible combos, for completeness’ sake.
To make a fair comparison between Borgmann’s book-burrowing methods and my more impatient digital ones, I didn’t look at his list in detail when making mine. Sometimes my results turned out just the same as his (eighths, schnook, sequoia) or not too different. I ended up using the same compromises he did—counting “y” as a vowel when it wasn’t acting as one, using multiple words, even getting a little obscure.
It should come as no surprise that overall, I like my list better—I lean a bit more toward crossword-style accessibility than dictionary-lovers’ appeals to citation. And some things, like Li’l Abner, have just gotten less familiar over fifty-some years. But in a couple of spots, I do prefer Borgmann. In the end, you get to be the judge.
MTWTFSS. Abbreviation indicating a seven-days-a-week schedule.
ArchBSD. Noted operating system.
Lengths.
Twelfth.
Scratch.
Schmuck.
HTML tag.
TSTSTSA. Flirty abbreviation appended to love letters (“To someone too sweet to sleep alone”). Yes, it’s an initialism like #1, #2, #7, and #8, but when vowels are scarce, that’s gonna happen. #2, #7, and #8 also correspond to the three on this side Borgmann could not find.
Eighths.
Amongst.
Adjunct.
Address.
Anthrax.
IMNSFHO or OMGSTFU. Not thrilled with these vulgar, padded initialisms (In my not so f@#$ing humble opinion and oh my God, shut the f@#$ up), but they’re the best OneLook had, to my eye. I think this is the spot where Borgmann beats me most easily: archspy is clearly better.
Weights.
Defunct.
Current.
Control.
Monthly.
Freight.
Process.
Channel.
Whistle.
Through.
Chronic.
Scruple.
Schnook. This combo is pretty “Yiddish.” It also has schmear and schmoes.
J-stroke.
Kthxbai. (“Okay, thanks, bye!”)
Young MC. Here begins the section Borgmann skipped. Young MC became a major star with “Bust a Move.” Borgmann would probably have gone with youngth, an archaic form of youth.
Outings.
Earnest.
Eardrum.
Earthly.
Against.
Element.
Elastic.
Example. Literally.
Account.
Alcohol.
Atrophy.
Exploit.
Entropy.
Archfoe. Alternative: elm tree.
Maoists. Or beeotch.
Ceiling.
Counter.
Country.
Foreign.
However.
Finally.
Nucleus.
Century.
Cochlea.
Freeing.
Greater.
Science.
Protein.
Closure.
Trustee.
St. Louis.
Throaty.
Sclerae.
GPS Buoy.
Eyeings.
Eyeball.
Eyebrow.
Yield to or year two.
Easiest.
Aerobic.
Eagerly.
Earlier.
Outside.
Austria.
Opioids.
Avoided.
Usually.
Erosion.
Average.
Inertia.
Obvious.
Already.
Ammonia.
Althaea, a kind of plant, or Astraea, an obscure Greek goddess of the stars, are the two most appealing options here.
Beauish. I didn’t like queuing since it was a variant of the more colorful queueing.
Liaison.
Quietly.
Caution.
Quality.
Georgia or deep-sea.
Various.
Society.
Revenue.
Tableau.
Dry-eyed.
Squeeze.
Prairie.
Plateau.
Sprayey. Not common but at least guessable.
Yo-yoing. Here we rejoin Borgmann, albeit in reverse order. His entry here was “Aeaeans.”
Eye exam.
You wait. #101 and #102 were areas Borgmann left blank.
Ooze out.
Aqueous.
Queue up.
Eye of Ra or eyeable.
Eyesore or YouTube (which is gaining currency as a verb).
Aureole.
Okayama. Japanese city.
Buoyage.
Ayodhya. Legendary birthplace of Rama.
Eurasia.
Oceania.
Jai alai.
I ask you!
Uruguay or evacuee.
Rouleau.
Enqueue.
Sequoia.
Blue-eye.
Aye-ayes.
Iyeyasu, a powerful Japanese shogun, though more frequently spelled Ieyasu. The variant spelling makes this pretty sketchy, maybe the sketchiest entry in the whole list. But Borgmann had nothing for this spot.
“You okay?” or eye area.
Year III.
I owe you. Last of the Borgmann blanks.
I see you. Borgmann’s ukiyoye would be great here, but modern sources spell it ukiyo-e.
Miao-Yao, a language group.
“AAAAAAA!” Actually cited from five OneLook sources! Hey, at least you know what it means.
You've missed the Scrabble dictionary acceptable- and superior, imo - TSKTSKS
Thank you for creating so thoroughly the ultimate playgrund for Scrabble players!