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Somebody told me that "hmm" and "mmm" are the only words in the English language without a vowel. Is that true?

If not, please provide counterexamples.

No acronyms please.

I am not looking for words that sound as if they have no vowels (that's already answered here), but whole words that have no vowels in their spelling or consonants used as vowels as such as 'y'.

Some syllables have no vowels, and that is already answered here, but I want whole words.

RichS
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  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_without_vowels – Řídící Jan 15 '18 at 08:30
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    Tsk, tsk, who told you that? – oerkelens Jan 15 '18 at 08:52
  • The question you linked to cited rhythms, a word with no vowels in its spelling. Please [edit] your question to explain why this doesn't answer your question, and what you mean instead by "no vowels in their spelling". – Lawrence Jan 15 '18 at 09:28
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    Did you google this? It's just that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_without_vowels which links to https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_words_without_vowels – Max Williams Jan 15 '18 at 10:07
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    This question does not appear to be about English language and usage within the scope defined in the help center. It is a request for resources, and, like 'What words in English have more than a single pair of double letters', a request for trivia. It is also lacking in research (and is general reference). – Edwin Ashworth Jan 15 '18 at 11:26
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    @Lawrence No; y is the vowel usage in rhythm, truly and sky (as opposed to the half-vowel in say yellow). 'W' is a vowel in the now English word cwm. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 15 '18 at 11:34
  • The definition of the word 'word' is contentious. 'hmm' and 'mmm' are very near the border. (I consider them on the other side of wordness). Whatever it is, the rules are unclear. If 'mmm' is a word, then why isn't 'mmmm' and 'mmmmm' etc? – Mitch Jan 15 '18 at 17:25
  • @Mitch What is "the other side of wordness"? Do you mean a collection of letters that are widely used as a word, but which is not a word? "Ghoti" comes to mind as an obvious example since it is widely used, but is not a word. Or do you mean a collection of letters with no definition? "Mmm" has a definition in the dictionary, but "mmmm" does not. – RichS Jan 15 '18 at 18:13
  • @RichS Why isn't 'mmmm' in the dictionary? Can you use 'mmm' in sentence? How does 'mmm' fit the idea of 'word'? (a dictionary definition is a start but is not everything) – Mitch Jan 15 '18 at 18:51

4 Answers4

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Tsk tsk, what research was done before posting this question :)

Refs Tsk tsk (urban dic.) and nGram.

And for further background illumination, wiktionary...:English_words_without_vowels

Thanks for the constructive feedback @Mari-Lou A

MikeRoger
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Also zzz: (exclamation UK ​) ​

used in a picture or a piece of writing to represent the noise that people make when they are sleeping.

(Cambridge Dictionary)

From Google Books: zzz

user 66974
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(Note: an update to the question removed the basis for the previous version of this answer. The current version notes that the question as posed is unanswerable.)

Strictly speaking, vowels are either speech sounds or letters representing them. It therefore doesn't make sense to talk about words that "have no vowels in their spelling" as a matter distinct from "words that sound as if they have no vowels".

So in words such as "bird", pronounced in a rhotic dialect, the written 'i' isn't pronounced and therefore doesn't count as a vowel. Conversely, in words such as "my", the 'y' is pronounced as a vowel and therefore does count as a vowel.

Other words, such as hmm and pfft/pfftt, have dictionary entries and contain no vowels in their spelling, but they also have no vowels in their pronunciation. Such words rely on 'sustained' consonants such as f, m and n.

I conclude that there aren't any words that contain no vowels in their spelling which don't also sound as if they have no vowels in their pronunciation.

Lawrence
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Rhythm has no vowels.

There's also lots of examples for shorter words like why, cry, spy, shy, dry and fly.

Leslie
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