One-Letter Words - Digital Commons @ Butler University

238
ONE-LETTER WORDS
DARR YL FRANCIS
Hounslow, Middlesex, England
How many one-letter words are there in the English language? If
you answered 26 J well done! If you answered anything else, take four
weeks vacation in Siberia. Examination of any English dictionary will
uncover the fact that all 26 letter s of the alphabet are words in their
own right. The usual dictionary definitions of most single-lette r
words are, however, somewhat mundane. For example, among the
definitions of the word B in Webster t s Third Edition, we find 'I an
instance of this letter printe, written or otherwise represented 'l
II something arbitrarily designated as b 'l
and II something having the
shape of the capital lette r BTl. These definitions. along with all the
others like them, are lackluster. They are all unable to get away
from relating the word B to the letter B. There is no reason why the
word B shouldn l t have a meaning completely unrelated to the letter B,
The meanings of the words BOX, BASKET and BRONTOSAURUS are
not related to the constituent letters of the words. We can see no
reason why this argument shouldn I t apply to one-letter words also.
In fact, dictionaries do list some one-letter words where the
meanings are unrelated to the constituent letter of the word. A, the
indefinite article, and I, the per sonal pronoun. are two that should
spring to everybodyT s mind. Most dictionaries list the word 0 as an
exclamation of surprise. Webster I s Second Edition tells us that E
is an obsolete variant spelling of he and is a near-obsolete variant of
~.
The same dictionary also lists Y as an obsolete variant of ~,
I and in. The Addenda section of Webster I s Third Edition give s U
as an adj ective meaning II characteri sHc of the uppe r das ses 11.
We decided to do some research and chase up definitions of the
26 one'-letter words which got away from stereotype definitions as
far as possible. Accordingly, we are presenting below 26 such defi­
nitions. We want you, the reader, to tie up each definition with the
one-letter word corresponding to it. Answers can be found in the
Answers and Solutions at the end of this is sue. Furthermore, just
in case there ar e any doubting Thomase s who would like to check
the words against the original sources, we have listed all the
sources used in this quiz at the end of the article.
a cross st
a five-dol
a former
a former
a hundred
6. a paeudon
7. an obsole'
8. an obsole
9. a former
10. a former
Dewey Cc
11. an obsole
12. a river ir
13. an obaole
14. a size of
15. a thousan
16. James Be
17. an obsole
18. the conso
19. the drug
20. the middl
21. the narra
22. the New
23. the title c
24. a short c
25. used to i:
26. a unit of
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Webster's N
Webster's N
Funk & Wagn
The America
The Oxford :E
The Century
The Century
Chambe r SIS
Payton's Pr<
Brewer 1 s Di
Rand McNall
The Readers
The World A
19uage? If
~, take four
;ionary will
s in their
letter
mong the
nd I'an
nted t'
lving the
th all the
~t away
:m why the
Ie letter B.
JRUS are
see no
ds also.
e the
. A, the
should
d 0 as an
I that E
.rariant of
l.t of~,
:ives U
s" .
3 of the
:>ns as
uch defi­
with the
in the
e, just
:heck
e
239
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
a cross strip of iron at the end of a chain
a five-dollar bill
a forITler cOITlITlunity of Oscoda County, Michigan
a former cOITlITlunity of Tippecanoe County, Indiana
a hundred dollar s
a pseudonym of the English writer Eustace Budgell, 1686-1737
an obsolete spelling of cue
an obsolete word for always
a forITler county of Ok1ahoITla, having an area of 1016 square ITliles
a forITler county of Oklahoma, corresponding to what is now
Dewey County
an obsolete variant forITl of yew
a river in Inverness-shire, Scotland
an obsolete forITl of the adverb how
a size of shot
a thousand dollars
JaITle s Bond I s chief in the Ian FleITling novels
an obsolete forITl of the pronoun !.
the consort of Shamash, a Semitic sun god
the drug heroin
the ITliddle naITle of Pre sident TruITlan
the nar rator of Franz Kafka' s The Castle
the New York elevated railway
the title of a novel by Vassilis Vassilikos
a short coat
used to indicate the ITlonths when oysters are in season
a unit of ITleasure used in printing
Reference s
Webster l s New International Dictionary, First Edition, 1909
Webster 1 s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, 1934
Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary of the English Language, 1946
The American Thesaurus of Slang, Berry &van den Bark, N. Y., 1953
The Oxfor d English Dictionary, 1933
The Century Atlas of the World, 1897
The Century Cyclopedia of Proper NaITles, 1897
ChaITlbers's Twentieth Dictionary, Edinburgh, 1959
Payton l s Proper NaITles, Geoffrey Payton, N. Y., 1969
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, London, 1967
Rand McNally Enlarged Business Atlas, Chicago. 1893
The Readers Digest COITlplete Atlas of the British Isle s, London, n. d.
The World AIITlanac, Centennial Edition, N. Y., 1968