Vole Wizard Hovels
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The following nine ten words (thank you Bass) are the only words in the entire English language* that have a certain extraordinary property:
- bevy
- by
- girt
- grit
- hovels
- lo
- vole
- wizard
- wold
trig
What is that property?
* that I was able to find, based on a search of a 100,000-word English dictionary.
word english word-property
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The following nine ten words (thank you Bass) are the only words in the entire English language* that have a certain extraordinary property:
- bevy
- by
- girt
- grit
- hovels
- lo
- vole
- wizard
- wold
trig
What is that property?
* that I was able to find, based on a search of a 100,000-word English dictionary.
word english word-property
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$begingroup$
Great question!
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– Rand al'Thor
4 hours ago
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By symmetry, shouldn't this count too?
$endgroup$
– Bass
2 hours ago
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Did you search the dictionary by hand??!!??
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– Brandon_J
2 hours ago
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@Brandon_J - I used my hands to type in the code of the Perl script that did the searching. Does that count as searching by hand? :)
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– plasticinsect
2 hours ago
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@Bass - That showed up in my list, but I originally discarded it as an abbreviation, and therefore not a proper word. But now that you point it out, I think I was wrong to leave it out. It's not really an abbreviation, it's just informal shorthand.
$endgroup$
– plasticinsect
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The following nine ten words (thank you Bass) are the only words in the entire English language* that have a certain extraordinary property:
- bevy
- by
- girt
- grit
- hovels
- lo
- vole
- wizard
- wold
trig
What is that property?
* that I was able to find, based on a search of a 100,000-word English dictionary.
word english word-property
$endgroup$
The following nine ten words (thank you Bass) are the only words in the entire English language* that have a certain extraordinary property:
- bevy
- by
- girt
- grit
- hovels
- lo
- vole
- wizard
- wold
trig
What is that property?
* that I was able to find, based on a search of a 100,000-word English dictionary.
word english word-property
word english word-property
edited 1 hour ago
plasticinsect
asked 4 hours ago
plasticinsectplasticinsect
2035
2035
$begingroup$
Great question!
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– Rand al'Thor
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
By symmetry, shouldn't this count too?
$endgroup$
– Bass
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Did you search the dictionary by hand??!!??
$endgroup$
– Brandon_J
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Brandon_J - I used my hands to type in the code of the Perl script that did the searching. Does that count as searching by hand? :)
$endgroup$
– plasticinsect
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Bass - That showed up in my list, but I originally discarded it as an abbreviation, and therefore not a proper word. But now that you point it out, I think I was wrong to leave it out. It's not really an abbreviation, it's just informal shorthand.
$endgroup$
– plasticinsect
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Great question!
$endgroup$
– Rand al'Thor
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
By symmetry, shouldn't this count too?
$endgroup$
– Bass
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Did you search the dictionary by hand??!!??
$endgroup$
– Brandon_J
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Brandon_J - I used my hands to type in the code of the Perl script that did the searching. Does that count as searching by hand? :)
$endgroup$
– plasticinsect
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Bass - That showed up in my list, but I originally discarded it as an abbreviation, and therefore not a proper word. But now that you point it out, I think I was wrong to leave it out. It's not really an abbreviation, it's just informal shorthand.
$endgroup$
– plasticinsect
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Great question!
$endgroup$
– Rand al'Thor
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
Great question!
$endgroup$
– Rand al'Thor
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
By symmetry, shouldn't this count too?
$endgroup$
– Bass
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
By symmetry, shouldn't this count too?
$endgroup$
– Bass
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Did you search the dictionary by hand??!!??
$endgroup$
– Brandon_J
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Did you search the dictionary by hand??!!??
$endgroup$
– Brandon_J
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Brandon_J - I used my hands to type in the code of the Perl script that did the searching. Does that count as searching by hand? :)
$endgroup$
– plasticinsect
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Brandon_J - I used my hands to type in the code of the Perl script that did the searching. Does that count as searching by hand? :)
$endgroup$
– plasticinsect
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Bass - That showed up in my list, but I originally discarded it as an abbreviation, and therefore not a proper word. But now that you point it out, I think I was wrong to leave it out. It's not really an abbreviation, it's just informal shorthand.
$endgroup$
– plasticinsect
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@Bass - That showed up in my list, but I originally discarded it as an abbreviation, and therefore not a proper word. But now that you point it out, I think I was wrong to leave it out. It's not really an abbreviation, it's just informal shorthand.
$endgroup$
– plasticinsect
1 hour ago
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
I think the property is
that applying the Atbash cipher (replacing each letter with its alphabetic inverse - $A leftrightarrow Z, B leftrightarrow Y$, etc.) yields the same result as reversing the word.
In other words,
the first and last, second and second-to-last, etc. letters in each word are alphabetic inverses: B and Y, E and V, I and R, L and O, etc.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The First letter is as far away from the beginning of the alphabet as the last letter is to the end.
New contributor
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
The wordswood
,birthday
, andgoat
satisfy the rule you have specified, but are not on plasticinsect's list.
$endgroup$
– Hugh
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
ah I see, the real answer was that the rule applied to the letters inside the word not just the ends.
$endgroup$
– Will
2 hours ago
add a comment |
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
I think the property is
that applying the Atbash cipher (replacing each letter with its alphabetic inverse - $A leftrightarrow Z, B leftrightarrow Y$, etc.) yields the same result as reversing the word.
In other words,
the first and last, second and second-to-last, etc. letters in each word are alphabetic inverses: B and Y, E and V, I and R, L and O, etc.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I think the property is
that applying the Atbash cipher (replacing each letter with its alphabetic inverse - $A leftrightarrow Z, B leftrightarrow Y$, etc.) yields the same result as reversing the word.
In other words,
the first and last, second and second-to-last, etc. letters in each word are alphabetic inverses: B and Y, E and V, I and R, L and O, etc.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I think the property is
that applying the Atbash cipher (replacing each letter with its alphabetic inverse - $A leftrightarrow Z, B leftrightarrow Y$, etc.) yields the same result as reversing the word.
In other words,
the first and last, second and second-to-last, etc. letters in each word are alphabetic inverses: B and Y, E and V, I and R, L and O, etc.
$endgroup$
I think the property is
that applying the Atbash cipher (replacing each letter with its alphabetic inverse - $A leftrightarrow Z, B leftrightarrow Y$, etc.) yields the same result as reversing the word.
In other words,
the first and last, second and second-to-last, etc. letters in each word are alphabetic inverses: B and Y, E and V, I and R, L and O, etc.
answered 4 hours ago
Rand al'ThorRand al'Thor
69.2k14229462
69.2k14229462
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The First letter is as far away from the beginning of the alphabet as the last letter is to the end.
New contributor
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
The wordswood
,birthday
, andgoat
satisfy the rule you have specified, but are not on plasticinsect's list.
$endgroup$
– Hugh
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
ah I see, the real answer was that the rule applied to the letters inside the word not just the ends.
$endgroup$
– Will
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The First letter is as far away from the beginning of the alphabet as the last letter is to the end.
New contributor
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
The wordswood
,birthday
, andgoat
satisfy the rule you have specified, but are not on plasticinsect's list.
$endgroup$
– Hugh
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
ah I see, the real answer was that the rule applied to the letters inside the word not just the ends.
$endgroup$
– Will
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The First letter is as far away from the beginning of the alphabet as the last letter is to the end.
New contributor
$endgroup$
The First letter is as far away from the beginning of the alphabet as the last letter is to the end.
New contributor
New contributor
answered 4 hours ago
WillWill
1114
1114
New contributor
New contributor
$begingroup$
The wordswood
,birthday
, andgoat
satisfy the rule you have specified, but are not on plasticinsect's list.
$endgroup$
– Hugh
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
ah I see, the real answer was that the rule applied to the letters inside the word not just the ends.
$endgroup$
– Will
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The wordswood
,birthday
, andgoat
satisfy the rule you have specified, but are not on plasticinsect's list.
$endgroup$
– Hugh
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
ah I see, the real answer was that the rule applied to the letters inside the word not just the ends.
$endgroup$
– Will
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
The words
wood
, birthday
, and goat
satisfy the rule you have specified, but are not on plasticinsect's list.$endgroup$
– Hugh
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
The words
wood
, birthday
, and goat
satisfy the rule you have specified, but are not on plasticinsect's list.$endgroup$
– Hugh
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
ah I see, the real answer was that the rule applied to the letters inside the word not just the ends.
$endgroup$
– Will
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
ah I see, the real answer was that the rule applied to the letters inside the word not just the ends.
$endgroup$
– Will
2 hours ago
add a comment |
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$begingroup$
Great question!
$endgroup$
– Rand al'Thor
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
By symmetry, shouldn't this count too?
$endgroup$
– Bass
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Did you search the dictionary by hand??!!??
$endgroup$
– Brandon_J
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Brandon_J - I used my hands to type in the code of the Perl script that did the searching. Does that count as searching by hand? :)
$endgroup$
– plasticinsect
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Bass - That showed up in my list, but I originally discarded it as an abbreviation, and therefore not a proper word. But now that you point it out, I think I was wrong to leave it out. It's not really an abbreviation, it's just informal shorthand.
$endgroup$
– plasticinsect
1 hour ago