Join FunTrivia for Free: Hourly trivia games, quizzes, community, and more!
Fun Trivia
Ask FunTrivia: Questions and Answers
Answers to 100,000 Fascinating Questions
Welcome to FunTrivia's Question & Answer forum!

Search All Questions


Please cite any factual claims with citation links or references from authoritative sources. Editors continuously recheck submissions and claims.

Archived Questions

Goto Qn #


What is the longest one-syllable word?

Question #112742. Asked by tinamomnsox.
Last updated Jun 01 2021.

Andy
Answer has 0 votes
Andy
24 year member
197 replies

Answer has 0 votes.
Screeched, stretched, and scratched

Oct 09 2002, 5:31 PM
Barrow boy
Answer has 0 votes
Barrow boy
22 year member
532 replies

Answer has 0 votes.
Strengths has the same number of letters and only one vowel.

Oct 09 2002, 7:33 PM
SOTHC
Answer has 7 votes
SOTHC
21 year member
772 replies

Answer has 7 votes.
Longest Monosyllabic English Words:

"Scraunched", meaning to crush or crush noisily, and the archaic word "strengthed", each 10 letters long, are the longest English words that are only one syllable long. There are more 9-letter words: "scratched", "screeched", "scrounged", "squelched", "straights", and "strengths".

fwointl.com/artman/publish/printer_493.shtml (webpage no longer exists)


Response last updated by gtho4 on Jun 01 2021.
Feb 05 2006, 4:10 PM
avatar
zbeckabee star
Answer has 3 votes
zbeckabee star
Moderator
18 year member
11752 replies avatar

Answer has 3 votes.
The one most commonly cited is screeched (nine letters). However, one ought to mention also scratched, scrounged, scrunched, stretched, and the plural nouns straights and strengths (all with nine letters).

The complete Oxford English Dictionary also indicates the existence of scraughed, scrinched, scritched, scrooched, sprainged, spreathed, throughed, and thrutched.

askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/onesyllable (webpage no longer exists)


Response last updated by gtho4 on Jun 01 2021.
Feb 16 2008, 6:42 PM
avatar
ghosttowner star
Answer has 7 votes
ghosttowner star
17 year member
101 replies avatar

Answer has 7 votes.

Aug 12 2009, 12:13 AM
avatar
Juggernaut314
Answer has 11 votes
Juggernaut314
15 year member
98 replies avatar

Answer has 11 votes.
What is the longest one-syllable English word:

The one most commonly cited is screeched (nine letters). However, one ought to mention also scratched, scrounged, scrunched, stretched, and the plural nouns straights and strengths (all with nine letters). The complete Oxford English Dictionary also indicates the existence of scraughed, scrinched, scritched, scrooched, sprainged, spreathed, throughed, and thrutched. The OED also cites a single instance of the ten-letter word scraunched, from the 1620 English translation of Don Quixote.

link https://www.lexico.com/explore/what-is-the-longest-one-syllable-english-word

So depending on what you count as a word, it may be scraunched at ten letters, or any of the 9 letter words listed above.


Response last updated by gtho4 on Jun 01 2021.
Feb 09 2010, 9:26 AM
avatar
star_gazer star
Answer has 13 votes
Currently Best Answer
star_gazer star
22 year member
5236 replies avatar

Answer has 13 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
This is a debatable question.

The original French name for smurf is schtroumpf, and is used as an all-purpose noun and verb by Smurfs and in imitation of them. The form schtroumpfed is used in Alistair McEwen's English translation of an essay by Umberto Eco: "Let us suppose that an English speaker of average culture hears a Schtroumpf poet reciting I schtroumpfed lonely as a schtroumpf." However, this is intended to represent the Schtroumpf language rather than English. That one syllable word is twelve letters.

The eleven-letter word broughammed (created from brougham by analogy with bussed, biked, carted etc.), while readily pronounceable as one syllable in all dialects ("broomed", IPA: /bɹu¢°md/), is yet to appear in a print dictionary. See: "ough" words. The word might also be spelled broughamed, with ten letters.

Squirrelled is the spelling in British English of a word usually spelled in American English as squirreled (see -led and -lled spellings) . While in Received Pronunciation the word has two syllables (IPA: /ˈskwɪɹəɫd/), it is often pronounced /skwɝɫd/ (rhymes with world) in North American English [1]. Of those who use the one-syllable pronunciation, some may use the eleven-letter spelling; for the rest, it is a ten-letter monosyllable.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_longest_English_words_with_one_syllable

Feb 09 2010, 12:51 PM
author
Answer has 5 votes
author
22 year member
2834 replies

Answer has 5 votes.
This man votes for scraunched.
At ten letters long, this pseudo-onomatopoeic synonym for crunched is the longest monosyllabic word in the English language. All six of its closest rivals — scratched, screeched, scrounged, squelched, straights, and strengths — curiously also begin with the letter S, but each of them falls short of the champion of monosyllabry’s deliciously burnished mouthfeel. Just say it a few times and you’ll understand. How can so many letters voiced in a single beat be blended any more smoothly?

link http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-monosyllabic-english-words/



Response last updated by gtho4 on Jun 14 2017.
Feb 10 2010, 8:37 PM
avatar
shuehorn star
Answer has 13 votes
shuehorn star
Moderator
19 year member
58 replies avatar

Answer has 13 votes.
According to Wikipedia, depending on your dialect and whether you accept words from other languages, the longest monosyllabil word in English can have up to 11 leters.

My own candidate is the American English pronunciation of "squirrelled" (11 letters).

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_longest_English_words_with_one_syllable

Sep 30 2016, 9:59 PM
free email trivia FREE! Get a new mixed Fun Trivia quiz each day in your email. It's a fun way to start your day!


arrow Your Email Address:

Sign in or Create Free User ID to participate in the discussion