Monday, March 29, 2010

Five Valid Scrabble Words I Didn't Know Until Yesterday

Literacy Volunteers of Greater Augusta held its third annual Scrabble tournament fundraiser on Sunday afternoon, and I served as timekeeper at the competition table (most of the participating teams played more relaxed "social" games). Team Weevil won the competition finals, edging out the dominant Blankety-Blanks, who won the tournament when I served as timekeeper two years ago.

Great games all around, in the best possible cause, and I learned a few words to boot. These are five valid words the Weevils and the Blankety-Blanks played yesterday that were new to me.

1. Amido. A chemistry term meaning "containing, or derived from, amidogen," which in turn is "a compound radical, NH2, not yet obtained in a separate state, which may be regarded as ammonia from the molecule of which one of its hydrogen atoms has been removed." I do wish I'd paid closer attention in chemistry class.

2. Bazar. Alternate spelling and also the plural of bazaar, which can be a street (esp. in the Middle East) lined with shops and stalls, or a fair or sale or store that sells miscellaneous goods.

3. Peh. Alternate spelling of pe, the seventeenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

4. Talion. A legal term meaning a system or legal principle of that makes the punishment fit the crime, such as the death penalty for murder; the root is the same as for the word "retaliation."

5. Wawl. A verb meaning "to make high-pitched, whiny noises."

Got any good unusual words for my next round of Scrabble? Leave them in the comments section.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

cwm

a Welsh valley

Our new M.E. installed a Scrabble board in the newsroom. Isn't a game really but people play words at random as they pass by the board. One of the copy editors, who is a tournament player, used that one.

-Joe

Zach said...

I'm always quite partial to 'qat'. Very helpful. It's a leafy plant that grows in the East Africa/Arabian Peninsula, and is a controlled substance in many countries due to its use as a stimulant.

Ellen Clair Lamb said...

Excellent example of the use of w as a vowel, Joe! And Zach, I use "qat" a lot, too, as well as "khat," but someone played "kat" yesterday, and that variant was new to me.

JIM LAMB said...

If you are stuck trying clue, try clew as in one part of a triangular sail.

Ellen Clair Lamb said...

Sailing is an excellent source of Scrabble words!

Peter said...

Time to confess: I've never played Scrabble. Am I deprived or lucky?

Anonymous said...

Is "I" a valid word in scrabble?

Ellen Clair Lamb said...

No - Scrabble words have a two-letter minimum.