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I'm looking for a single word for words that are fun/easy/pleasant to say—words that roll off the tongue, so to speak.

Callithumpian
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  • Related: What are the principles that make certain lists sound euphonious? – MrHen May 02 '11 at 18:55
  • In response to the first three responders, I'm looking for a word that specifically relates to the pleasure of speaking a word, not hearing a word. I want the oral equivalent of the aural mellifluous. (If it exists.) – Callithumpian May 02 '11 at 19:05
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    @Calli: Er, I don't think there are any words that feel good. The reason it would be fun to say is because of the way they sound. If you were completely deaf I doubt you would get a different sense of pleasure from one word or the other. Or perhaps I am completely misunderstanding your request? – MrHen May 02 '11 at 19:17
  • @MrHen I enjoy saying "susurration" more than I do "suppuration" not because of how they sound (or what they mean), but because for me it's actually, physically fun to say. I also enjoy saying gibberish words because it's fun to make my mouth produce sounds it isn't accustomed to. The sounds themselves, however, are of secondary concern. I'm sure of that because I was doing it silently during my SAT tests waiting for the next section to start. And, yes, I know I'm strange. :) – kitukwfyer May 02 '11 at 19:39
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    @MrHen: Well, the phrase roll off the tongue is a good example. Its focus is the mechanics of speech, how some words seem to naturally flow and some seem to catch us up, or "twist" our tongues. I'm wondering if there is a single word that gets at this phenomenon apart from describing how those words sound once spoken. – Callithumpian May 02 '11 at 19:41
  • @Calli: Mmm... okay. I updated my answer a bit. Let me know if it is closer what you imagined. I really honestly do not know if I can relate to any physical pleasure in speaking words but now I will be on the lookout for it. :) – MrHen May 02 '11 at 22:13
  • Mellifluous isn't about sounding well when you say it? Frankly most of these fancy words, you never ever hear anybody else actually speak out loud, rather you probably only ever hear it by reading and then as you own bizarro-world internal voice speaking to itself. Usually better than the real thing. – Mitch May 03 '11 at 02:19
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    Monty Python would call them "woody words"! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T70-HTlKRXo :D – nico May 03 '11 at 11:29
  • @nico - glad I saw your comment, I was just about to add GOOORN here ;) – mplungjan Jul 06 '11 at 20:47
  • Roll off the tongue? "Astable". – Hot Licks Jan 02 '17 at 20:02
  • They're called Italian. – Arm the good guys in America Jun 06 '17 at 00:11

9 Answers9

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"Phonaesthetics" describes the study of such things and the appropriate word would be "euphony" or "euphonious":

A pronunciation of letters and syllables which is pleasing to the ear. (wiktionary)

Edit in response:

The phrase "articulatory phonetics" describes "how humans produce speech sounds via the interaction of different physiological structures." Phonaesthetics describes the more abstract aesthetics associated with speech. "Phonetics" includes the physical motion of speaking. Therefore, I claim that phonaesthetics includes the physical aesthetics of speech. "Euphony" refers to the pure sound aesthetics but either of these two terms should work:

  • phonaesthetics
  • articulatory phonaesthetics
MrHen
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  • @Calli: Yeah. Hopefully it is... or will be. For what it is worth, I don't think the phrase "roll off your tongue" really implies anything physically appealing. I always took it as a metaphor. But this is also a likely case for me being different than the norm. :P – MrHen May 02 '11 at 23:16
  • Interesting term that seems to fit. +1 for the irony that it is not fun to say. – Kit Z. Fox May 15 '11 at 01:05
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Mellifluous, maybe?

I'm not sure if you are looking for an adjective that describes them, or a noun.

MikeVaughan
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6

Mellifluous seems like a good fit. It itself is pleasing to say (a bonus!). :-) It comes from the Latin for "flowing" and "honey".

Andrew Flanagan
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The others are good Romance derivatives. A recently popular phrase with obvious meaning is:

good mouth feel

Mitch
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  • I feel like I only recently heard it (past few months) in relation to words, but google helped me find it on Language Log, mentioned in passing (as though it were a well used word). Next question...what's the original use of 'mouthfeel' for words? – Mitch May 03 '11 at 02:14
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It seems that no word we know of is quite right, so perhaps a word should be crafted from the parts we have lying around in this thread! Specifically, I think "mellifluous" and "euphony" offer promise, even though (as the OP points out) they both are associated with an act of pleasant hearing rather than the pleasant somatic feedback from the mechanical act of speaking.

This, it seems to me, is easily fixed by drawing on another beautiful word derived from Latin, "loquacious." Though this is most commonly taken to mean "talkative," the root in Latin (loqui) simply means "to speak."

Thus, I submit for consideration either of the two following constructions:

Melloquious - Mel+loqui - (like) honey to say

Euloquious - Eu+loqui - good to say

If a loan word from another language can be found, that might be a better alternative, but if there is no fitting and compelling word to be found, then perhaps it is up to us!

Noah Johnson
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Using @MrHen's answer as a springboard, I jumped around Wikipedia's phonetic entries some and came across liquid consonants, of which English has two, /l/ and /r/. There's this on the etymology of the term:

The grammarian Dionysius Thrax used the Greek word ὑγρος (hugros, "moist") to describe the /l,r,m,n/ phonemes of classical Greek.[2] Most commentators assume that this referred to their "slippery" effect on meter in classical Greek verse when they occur as the second member of a consonant cluster.[2] This word was calqued into Latin as liquidus, whence it has been retained in the Western European phonetic tradition.

Apart from the technical definition of the term here, I like liquid as a possible answer to my question, all the more so because it is actually used in a phonetical context.

Callithumpian
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    Mmm... it seems rocky to pull a term already used in phonetics and linguistics for a completely unrelated meaning. The term applies to a specific type of consonant and has nothing to do with aesthetics. If those two sounds happen to be what you find pleasing, great; but this term does not imply "words that roll off the tongue." You say you like the term despite its meaning but because of its association with phonetics. This would be like me saying "I like the word plosives; that will be I use for nice sounding words. And, conveniently, it is already associated with phonetics!" – MrHen May 05 '11 at 17:56
  • @MrHen: Maybe so. I wouldn't go so far as to say completely unrelated, though. There's the whole moist, slippery thing. And if any consonant is going to roll, it seems it would be an /l/ or an /r/. – Callithumpian May 05 '11 at 22:50
  • If you want a technical sound that mimics a "roll" you could use trill. Slippery makes sense because it is just adjective; liquid is a technical term. And this entire route really restricts the appropriate term to what you find pleasurable to say... which certainly helps you. :) – MrHen May 05 '11 at 23:00
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    I like "liquid" too, because it's descriptive and also fun to say. "Liquid language" Yum! Loquacious liquid language! – Kit Z. Fox May 15 '11 at 01:11
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I was also looking for this word and never found a good one. I like the suggestions given here but wanted to add the word that I came up with for this purpose. Eulalaiic (eu-lah-lay-ic) Etymology- eu = good and ululation= high pitched trilling sound involving movement of the uvula associated with high emotion. Plus eulalaiic is really eulalaiic

Squigs
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Fantysheeny might provide a close-definition and also a fun word that is an example of the phenomenon in question. It is a dialect word from Devon in the far southwest of England.

Fantysheeny: A FANTY-SHEENY is anything showy or impressive. It derives from ‘fantoccini’, an Italian word for a puppet show. [Haggard Hawks]

Decapitated Soul
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Cypress Butane
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I'm looking for a single word for words that are fun/easy/pleasant to say—words that roll off the tongue, so to speak.

Mellifluous is really a good word to use here. If not mellifluous, then I suggest dulciloquious.


From the OED:

Dulciloquy: A sweet or pleasing manner of speaking; sweetness of speech.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin dulciloquium.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin dulciloquium sweet speech (from 12th cent. in British and continental sources) < classical Latin dulcis sweet (see dulce adj.) + -loquium < loquī to speak (see -loquent comb. form)...

1998 S. Byrne H, v., & O 135 Harrison's poetry..does not commend the tongues of fire of dulciloquy and poetic eloquence as capable of bringing redemption


So a person having a sweet voice would be dulciloquent.

Dulciloquent is defined by the OED as:

Of a person: sweet-spoken. Hence also of an utterance, style, etc.: characterized by pleasing or mellifluous language.

You could use dulciloquent but I guess dulciloquious is better than dulciloquent (in this context).

Dulci means honey/sweet/pleasant, loqui means speak, -ous is a suffix which means of the nature of. So dulciloquious actually means pleasant/sweet to say.

Decapitated Soul
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