Consonants in order.

AEIOU in Order (WW98037), UOIEA Words (WW2001313) and On Location With AEIOU (WW2002314) examined words in which the five major vowels each occur just once in alphabetical order, and reverse alphabetical order. This raises the question of words in which the consonants occur in alphabetical order or, indeed, in reverse alphabetical order.

In Language On Vacation, page 167, Dmitri Borgmann briefly mentions these words under the heading Consonantal Patterns. In each of his seven examples, which include BaCCaLauReaTe and TeTRaPLoiDiC, at least one consonant is represented more than once. He makes no mention of

such words in which all the consonants are different. So let us start by dividing the words in which the consonants occur in alphabetical order/reverse alphabetical order into three categories: those in which all the consonants are different, those in which at least one consonant is repeated, and those in which all the consonants are repeated. Within the first two categories, I searched for those words having a high consonant to vowel ratio for a particular length of word. The fractions show the consonant/vowel ratios. Selected examples with at least three different consonants are given below. Eight was the most consonants found in a single word (as distinct from a phrase). The letter Y is treated here as a consonant.

Unreferenced examples are OED, Second Edition, head words, variant forms or text words including citations. Non-OED references: bar = Bartholomew Gazetteer of Britain cham = Chambers English Dictionary csd = Chambers Scots Dictionary, 1975 Hodge = Handbook of American Indians, edited by F.W. Hodge 1907 nwd = The New Welsh Dictionary by Evans and Thomas, Christopher Davies 1970 nz = Nomenclator Zoologicus sted = Stedmans's MD w2 = Webster's Second Edition

Locations are taken from The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN). They are populated places unless stated otherwise.

WORDS IN WHICH ALL THE CONSONANTS ARE DIFFERENT

Consonants in Alphabetical                      Consonants in Reverse
Order                                           Alphabetical Order
                              4 letters
4/0   CHMN (cham), DRWY                   4/0   XWLD, ZYTH, ZYXT
      (nwd)                   5 letters
5/0   MRTVY Luh (a marsh                  4/1   SPeND, TRiNG, WoRLD,
      in Czechoslovakia)                        WRoNG, ZYMiC
                              6 letters
5/1   BLiMPS, CHiNTZ,                     5/1   YSPeND, YToRND
      CHRiST                  7 letters
6/1   CHRiSTY, CLuMPST                    5/2   MiLK-FeD, SPaNKeD,
                                                TRiPLeD, WaRPiNG
                              8 letters
6/2   BaCKMoST,CHePSToW                   6/2   TRaNKHoF (Germany),
      (bar), eCLaMPSY                           5/3   uNMiLKeD
                              9 letters
7/2   CHaMPaRTY, CHLiSTaWY                6/3   eXTiRPiNG, WiT-SPoNGe
      (Poland)
                             10 letters
7/3   CHaMPeRTYe,                         6/4   oVeR-PoLKeD,
      CHeMoNaSTY (chain)                        TRePoNeMaL, TRoPoLoGiC
                             11 letters
7/4   CHiLoMaSTiX (w2),                   6/5   auXoTRoPHiC
      CoLuMNaRiTY            12 letters
8/4   FLaMeN-PRieST                       7/5   ViTSeRoeLHoF (farm in
                                                Belgium)
                             13 letters
6/7   aCiDaMiNuRiaS (sted)                7/6   WaiTeR uPoN GoD (OED
                                                phrase)

WORDS IN WHICH AT LEAST ONE CONSONANT IS REPEATED

Consonants in Alphabetical                      Consonants in Reverse
Order                                           Alphabetical Order

                              4 letters
4/0    PSST                               4/0   VMFF, VSSH, YSSH, YYNG
                              5 letters
4/1    BRiTT, CHeSS,                      4/1   SNuFF, SPeLL, THeDD,
       MuMPS, PuRRS                             TRuGG
                              6 letters
5/1    CHiLLS, DJiNNS,                    5/1   SPLiFF, VRNaLL, WeRRLD,
       KNaPPS                                   YSSeND, YTTRiC
                              7 letters
5/2    CaCKLeR, DeNSeST,                  5/2   PLuGGeD, VeTTiNG,
       oDDMeNT                                  ZYXoMMa (nz)
                              8 letters
6/2    BaCKLeSS, CLiPPeRS,                6/2   SPiNNiNG,SPLeKKeD,
       GLuMMeST(w2)                             TRiPPiNG, WRaPPiNG
                              9 letters
7/2    BoB-CHeRRY,                        6/3   SuSPeNDeD, TRaMMeLeD,
       CHiLLNeSS                                YaTTeRiNG
                             10 letters
7/3    BaFFLeMeNT,                        7/3   TRaMMeLLeD, TRePaNNiNG,
       CuDGeLLeRS,                              WeLL-LeGGeD
       CoMMoNNeSS            11 letters
8/3    BaiLLiLLiLLY(csd),                 7/4   ouTSPaNNiNG,
       CLaPPeRSTaY                              oVeRRuNNiNG,
                                                WaTeRLoGGeD
                             12 letters
8/4    CHiLLiNeSSeS (w2),                 8/4   TaTTeR-FuDDeD
       GaLLiNiPPeRS
                             13 letters
8/5    BiCeLLuLaRiTY(?),                  7/6   TRiNuNioNHooD
       NoNPoSSeSSiVe
                             14 letters
8/6    FeMiNiNeNeSSeS(w2)                 7/7   auToTeTRaPLoiD
                             15 letters
7/8    CoCCiDioiDoMaTa
       (sted)
                             16 letters
10/6   CoMMoN PRoSTiTuTe
       (OED phrase)

WORDS IN WHICH ALL THE CONSONANTS ARE REPEATED

These words are rare. In each of these 3 examples, the consonants are in alphabetical order and each consonant appears twice: iMMaNeNeSS (w2), JeJuNeNeSS, NoN-aPPeaReR In iSSeGGeDDa (a wadi in Mali), the consonants are in reverse alphabetical order and each like pair occurs as a doubled letter.

WORDS WITH BOTH CONSONANT AND VOWEL ORDERLINESS 

So far we have concentrated on consonant orderliness. Now let us introduce a second constraint by way of vowel orderliness. Suppose we require all five vowels to appear just once in the word. The search is then restricted to AEIOU words in which the five vowels occur in alphabetical, or reverse alphabetical, order.

Both Consonants and Vowels in Alphabetical Order

8 letters: aFeLiouN (Irhzer Afelioun is a stream in Morocco), DaLeiTou (China), HaReiouS,

9 letters: aCHeiLouS, aCHeiRouS (w2), aCHeRiTou (Cyprus), GaNNeiouS (Hodge)

10 letters: BaDDeiZZou (a hill in Mauritania)

11 letters: CHLaeNiopuS (nz)

Both Consonants and Vowels in Reverse Alphabetical Order

8 letters: SuLoiDea (nz)

11 letters: VuoSSiSeLKa (hill in Finland)

Consonants in Alphabetical Order, Vowels in Reverse Alphabetical Order BuRRoTieTa (Ecuador)

Consonants in Reverse Alphabetical Order, Vowels in Alphabetical Order Ta-Pei-Kou (China), YaNMeiLou (China)

The paucity of examples with the consonants in alphabetical order and the five vowels in reverse alphabetical order, at least in non-location words, is probably because a high percentage of UOIEA words have the letter L as their final consonant, thus restricting the choice of the 2(+) preceding consonants to eight. The paucity of examples with the consonants in reverse alphabetical order and the five vowels in alphabetical order is probably because almost all of the 'AEIOU in order' words (non-locations) end in M, N, S or Y. This dictates that the preceding 2(+) consonants have to appear further along the alphabet than M, N, S and Y respectively, which is increasingly unlikely in the ease of M, N and S, and impossible in the ease of Y.

ALPHOMIC WORDS

Alphomic words are those in which all the letters appear in alphabetical order. It follows that, in these words, consonants appear in alphabetical order, and vowels appear in alphabetical order. The opposite applies in the ease of reverse alphomic words. The longest alphomic, and reverse alphomic, words to appear in Word Ways are the 8-letter AEGILOPS and TROLLIED respectively. I believe that the following 8-letter locations are new to Word Ways. Note that ACHIMOVY and TRONJICA do not have any repeated letters.

Alphomic Words                   Reverse Alphomic Words

ABDENNOR (Morocco)               SOOJIIDA (Somalia)
ACHIMMOT (S. Korea)              SOONKHED (India)
ACHIMOVY (Russia)                TRONJICA (hill in Yugoslavia)
BELLOSSY (France)                WURROONG (Wooggooddy W ... is a well
CEILLOUX (France)                  in Australia)
CHIN-O-SSU (China)
DEGIILOW (Heyreeringa
  D ... is an area in Somalia)
DEHINOOR (a spring in Oman)

SPECIAL WORDS

A few of the above words deserve a special mention:

BaiLLiLLiLLy--three like doubled consonants

aCiDaMiNuRiaS--three sets of 2 alphabetically-adjacent consonants: C + D, M + N, and R + S

FLaMeN-PRieST--two sets of 3 alphabetically-adjacent consonants: L + M + N and R + S + T

uNMiLKeD--a reverse set of 4 alphabetically-adjacent consonants: N + M + L + K

SUSAN THORPE

Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England

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