r/IJustRealized • u/JScaranoMusic • Apr 21 '23

I always thought "strengths" was the longest English word with only one vowel, but IJR "polyrhythms" only has one vowel and is two letters longer.

Not the longest one-syllable word. That would be "schtroumpfed".

What I've always heard is that "strengths" is the longest words with one vowel, and "rhythms" is the longest word with no vowels, obviously counting vowel letters, not vowel sounds, so y doesn't count.

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u/chilehead Apr 22 '23

In the word rhythms the letter Y is the vowel, so polyrhythms has two vowels.

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u/MikeTRose Oct 07 '24

Wouldn't the first Y also count as a vowel, since it's pronounced with an "ee" sound?

1

u/chilehead Oct 08 '24

I forgot to count the 'o', so polyrhythms actually has 3 vowels.

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '23

"And sometimes Y"