Here are the answers to my previous post, a quiz about unusual or remarkable words in English. Nobody lost, since nobody ventured a guess.
1. There are at least two words in English that include all the vowels in alphabetical order (with consonants between some of them them, I mean). Can you name one or two of them? Abstemiously; facetiously.
2. Can you name a seven-letter word whose only vowel is “y”? Rhythms.
3. You see a sign reading something like “Ye Olde Antique Shoppe”; how was “Ye” originally pronounced? “Th” (Y is a thorn, or rune, originally).
4. What word includes the first five letters of the alphabet (in jumbled order) in its first five letters? Abcedarian (one just learning the alphabet)
5. What words start with the last letter of the alphabet and end with the first? Several, including zebra, zeugma, zoa and za (slang for pizza, now accepted in the Scrabble dictionary).and
6. Which philosopher’s wife has an adjective meaning “shrewish” named after her? Xanthippe, the wife of Socrates, is the source of “xanthippic.”
7. What’s the longest palindrome (a series of words that read backwards the same as forwards) that you’ve memorized? I hope it’s not Eve’s first greeting “Madam, I’m Adam”. The one I recall is based on Napoleon’s life: “Able was I ere I saw Elba.”
8. How many heteronyms (words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently and have distinct meanings) can you think of? One example is “wound” meaning both an injury, and the past tense of the verb “wind”— which is itself a heteronym! A few others include lead, slough, tear, and close.
9. What’s an adjective meaning “obscure, little-known” that is itself obscure and little known? Arcane.
10. Can you name a word that has four or more “i” vowels in it? Civilization, intimidation, inhibition.
Oh thank goodness you have given the answers. I was quite clueless. I'm not so good at those kind of games. But it was interesting to read through and see that there must be words that contained what you described.