List of the longest English words with one syllable

Some nine-letter proper names remain monosyllabic when adding a tenth letter and apostrophe to form the possessive:

• Laugharne's {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɑr|n|z}}
• Scoughall's {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|k|oʊ|l|z}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.suholidays.org.uk/sites/scoughall.htm |title=Scoughall |year=2007 |publisher=Scripture Union Holidays |access-date=2009-01-15 |quote=Scoughall (pronounced “skole”) is in East Lothian, not far from North Berwick. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011142108/http://www.suholidays.org.uk/sites/scoughall.htm |archive-date=2008-10-11 }}

In his short story, "Strychnine in the Soup", P. G. Wodehouse had a character whose surname was "Mapledurham", pronounced "Mum". This is eleven letters, while "Mapledurham's" is twelve.

It is productive in English to convert a (proper) noun into an eponymous verb or adjective:

• A 2007–08 promotion in France used the slogan "Do you Schweppes?", implying a past tense Schweppesed (11 letters) for the putative verb.

{{cite web |url=http://www.doyouschweppes.com/ |title=Do you Schweppes |date=December 2007 |publisher=Orangina Schweppes |language=fr |access-date=2009-07-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031222718/http://www.doyouschweppes.com/ |archive-date=2007-10-31 }}

• Schwartzed (10 letters) has been used to mean "(re)designed in the style of Martha Schwartz"

{{cite web |url=http://archinect.com/news/article.php?id=3173_0_24_0_C |title=Landscapes of the mind |last=Diesenhouse |first=Susan |date=June 26, 2004 |work=Boston Globe |publisher=archinect |access-date=2009-01-15 |quote=So distinctive is her style that her name has become a Euro design verb, as in Barclays at Canary Wharf is being 'Schwartzed' .}}

• Schwartzed has also been used to mean "crossed swords with Justice Alan R. Schwartz"

{{cite journal|last=Mandel|first=Roberta G. |date=Spring 2005 |title=The End of an Era at the Third District Court of Appeal: The Retirement of Judge Robert L. Shevin, Judge Mario P. Goderich and Chief Judge Alan R. Schwartz |journal=The Record |publisher=Florida Bar, Appellate Section |location=Tallahassee |volume=XI |issue=1 |page=8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060626225034/http://www.flabarappellate.org/pdf/App-0505.pdf#page=8 |url=http://www.flabarappellate.org/pdf/App-0505.pdf#page=8 |archive-date=26 June 2006 |format=PDF |access-date=2009-01-14 |quote=there is no other jurist who has inspired the formation of a new terminology:“to be Schwartzed” or “to get Schwartzed” or “passing the Schwartz test.” }}

• Schmertzed (10 letters) has been used to mean "received undue largesse from New York City through the intervention of negotiator Eric Schmertz"{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2DF143EF930A15753C1A966958260|title=Negotiator's Quiet Style Elicits Loud Protest |last=Barbanel |first=Josh |date=October 23, 1990 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2009-01-15 |quote="I have now turned Schmertz into a verb and a noun," the former Mayor said. "If you have been abused, we say you have been Schmertzed. If you get an unwarranted and undeserved payment from the City of New York, you say, 'Thank you Mr. Mayor, for the Schmertz.' "}}

In a 1970 article in Word Ways, Ralph G. Beaman converts past participles ending -ed into nouns, allowing regular plurals with -s. He lists five verbs in Webster's Third International generating 10-letter monosyllables scratcheds, screecheds, scroungeds, squelcheds, stretcheds; from the verb strength in Webster's Second International, he forms the 11-letter strengtheds.{{cite journal |last=Beaman |first=Ralph G. |year=1970 |title=Syllabilities |journal=Word Ways |issue=4 |page=79 |url=http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1481&context=wordways#page=3 |access-date=23 June 2010}}

The past tense ending -ed and the archaic second person singular ending -st can be combined into -edst; for example "In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul" ({{bibleverse|Psalm|138:3|KJV}}). While this ending is usually pronounced as a separate syllable from the verb stem, it may be abbreviated -'dst to indicate elision. Attested examples include scratch'dst{{cite book |year=1922 |last=Woolbert |first=Charles Henry |title=Better Speech: A Textbook of Speech Training for Secondary Schools |url=https://archive.org/stream/betterspeechate00weavgoog#page/n117/mode/1up |page=103|publisher=New York, Chicago, Harcourt, Brace and company }} and stretch'dst,{{cite book |year=1898 |last=Shoemaker |first=Rachel Walter Hinkle |title=Advanced elocution |url=https://archive.org/stream/advancedelocutio00shoerich#page/128/mode/2up |page=129 |publisher=Granger Book Company |isbn=0-89609-169-4 }} each of which has one syllable spelled with ten letters plus apostrophe.

• Longest word in English

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20010821004640/http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/onesyllable askoxford.com: What is the longest one-syllable English word?]
• [http://rec-puzzles.org/index.php/Syllable rec-puzzles.org: What words have an exceptional number of letters per syllable?]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longest English words with one, List of the}}

One Syllable

Category:English orthography

Category:English phonology

English words

Category:Phonotactics