Unsociable Housemaid's Continuable Numeration

Perpetuating a three-generation tradition.

In “Unsociable Housemaid Discourages Facetious Behaviour,” a piece from Word Ways #2.4, Ross Eckler examined supervocalic words, those special compositions that include A, E, I, O, and U, once each. (Every word in the title of his piece is a supervocalic.) Ross noted there are 120 possible sequences of such vowels and listed examples for most but not all of them, inviting Word Ways readers to fill in the gaps.

Several Word Ways contributors revisited the subject a couple of decades ago. Susan Thorpe did “AEIOU: A Thirty-Year Quest” (August 1999). Building on her work, Eric Chaikin offered “120 Supervocalic Permutations" (May 2000) and “AEIOU: Supervocalics in Webster's Third” (November 2000). Darryl Francis offered notes and revisions to the latter with “Jailhouse Businesswoman Discourages Gregarious Barrelhousing” (February 2002).

I have included my own list below, informed as much by personal taste as by principle. Unlike Eckler, I’ve excluded all usage of “y” as a vowel. I’ve opted for American spellings, which puts options like “behaviour” and “favourite” out of reach. When choosing between less familiar “dictionary words” and dictionary-authorized phrases, I do tend to favor the latter, though that’s not a hard and fast rule. Aired out may be more familiar, but no way could I pass on the delightful ambidextrous.

Many of my entries have precedents in the prior sources. The ones in bold do not.

(I am only about 85% sure that I’ve made no mistakes here, so if I have, apologies in advance.)

AEIOU facetious, abstemious

AElUO make it up to

AEOIU pandemonium

AEOUI warehousing

AEUIO trade union, fall equinox

AEUOI paneulogism

AIEOU ambidextrous

AlEUO waited upon, antineutron

AIOEU raisonneur

AIOUE grandiloquent, jailhouse

AIUEO antinucleon, brain surgeon

AIUOE air quotes

AOEIU androecium, apothecium

AOEUI all-vowel-using [I couldn’t resist]

AOIEU gasoline pump

AOIUE alloimmune

AOUEI abounded in, macronuclei

AOUIE tambourine, malnourished

AUEIO act superior

AUEOI au revoir

AUIEO adult video

AUIOE hallucinogen, cauliflower

AUOEI autotheism

AUOIE authorize

EAIOU tenacious, nefarious

EAIUO prevail upon

EAOIU crematorium

EAOUI demagoguism

EAUIO exhaustion

EAUOI peanut oil

EIAOU screwing around, semifamous

EIAUO semiauto

EIOAU plesiosaur

EIOUA periocular

EIUAO helium atom

EIUOA entwicklungsroman

EOAIU Ebola virus

EOAUI ecoaudit

EOIAU neostriatum

EOIUA dentolingual, yellowfin tuna

EOUAI encouraging, repopulating

EOUIA pre-Columbian

EUAIO equation, education

EUAOI euharmonic, rheumatoid

EUIAO repudiator

EUIOA equivocal, delusional

EUOAI neuropathic

EUOIA sequoia, euphoria

IAEOU intravenous

IAEUO fixate upon

IAOEU hit a home run

IAOUE dialogue

IAUEO disabuse of

IAUOE giant sunflower

IEAOU lie around

IEAUO in default of

IEOAU line of Saturn

IEOUA intercolumnar

IEUAO sine qua non

IEUOA ticket quota

IOAEU lithofracteur

IOAUE ignoramuses

IOEAU hippocentaur

IOEUA isocellular

IOUAE inoculate, discourage

IOUEA in your dreams

IUAEO dissuade from

IUAOE visual cortex

IUEAO vituperator

IUEOA milquetoast

IUOAE insupportable

IUOEA circumboreal

OAEIU os trapezium

OAEUI cottage tulip

OAIEU containerful

OAIUE odalisque, portraiture

OAUEI nonauthentic

OAUIE consanguine, novaculite

OEAIU cometarium

OEAUI overvaluing, overhauling

OEIAU comme il faut

OEIUA nonresidual

OEUAI one-upmanship, conceptualism

OEUIA proeguminal

OIAEU toxic waste dump

OIAUE foliature, ovicapsule

OIEAU moineau, Oriental rug

OIEUA omnisexual, police squad

OIUAE coinsurance, continuance

OIUEA oblique flank

OUAEI mouthwatering, you name it

OUAIE outpatient, popularize

OUEAI housemaid, counterclaim

OUEIA lounge lizard

OUIAE communicate, outdistance

OUIEA outlinear, outsider art

UAEIO lumbar region

UAEOI quatrefoil

UAIEO put a price on

UAIOE ultraviolet, unsanctioned

UAOEI ultramodernism

UAOIE ultraconfident, unsavoriness

UEAIO numeration, ulceration

UEAOI unreasoning

UEIAO blue diamond

UEIOA question mark

UEOAI undemocratic

UEOIA unmethodical, Puerto Rican

UIAEO ruminate on

UIAOE undiagnosed, musical note

UIEAO quindecagon

UIEOA businesswoman, guideboard

UIOAE unimportance, junior-grade

UIOEA putting to death, ultraviolet lamp

UOAEI surrogateship

UOAIE unconstrained, suffocative

UOEAI suboceanic, unproblematic

UOEIA duodecimal, uncongenial

UOIAE unsociable, subordinate

UOIEA subcontinental

Susan Thorpe also did a piece on AEIOUY words, aka euryvocalics, but that’s worth a post of its own! (Later!)