Interesting Words — "English Time" Episode 3

4/1/2022

[1 Apr] The third episode of "English Time — presented by Forgottenland" is launched! In this episode, another hero in the "To Be Continued" series, Chi-yin, is the presenter. He is bringing us some interesting words to broaden your knowledge and ignite your curiosity to the English language. The robot is helping out too in this episode! How cute and powerful it is!

Now, after watching this video, do you have another fun English word that you have come across from your reading experience? And what makes that word intriguing to you? Please put down your thoughts in the comment box and share with us! Have fun with English!

Dr Lee

109 Comments

Dr H C Lee

4/1/2022 03:00:55 pm

I have an interesting word to share with you...that is "rhythm". It is the longest word without a vowel letter (a, e, i, o, u). It's odd isn't it? Besides, this word is not easy to pronounce correctly. Check an online dictionary for it! ^o^

4E19Marvel Mau

4/2/2022 03:14:57 pm

Doctor Lee ,you might be right, but I have another word that is called 'nymphly'--that's a rare word for nymphlike. It's the longest word without vowels (a,e,i,o,u).

4E19Marvel Mau

4/2/2022 04:00:00 pm

But yours is fascinating!I had NEVER thought of that!

6A02 Chan Hong Chak Horace

4/1/2022 05:01:41 pm

I have one interesting word to share with you, “Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis”, meaning a lung disease caused by the inhalation of silica or quartz dust. Why is it interesting? It’s because it is the real longest word in any major English language dictionaries- 45 letters long!

Dr H C Lee

4/1/2022 05:34:05 pm

I wonder if any medical doctor is able to say this word easily! There must be a short form of this disease name! Anyway, this is a very cool word!

6D06 Sheldon Hui

4/4/2022 09:14:22 am

I also have a long word about disease to share. It is a kind of phobia ((in case anyone doesn't know, a phobia means being scared by something)called "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia", And guess what it means-(dramatic pause) the fear of long words. I actually feel sorry to those who have this phobia as they can't even tell the normal ones what their disease is.

AidenCheuk 4E

4/1/2022 10:11:59 pm

I have a cool and intriguing word to share with you, it’s “cowardice”. It means the behaviour of someone who is not brave and always try to avoid danger. As I said that it is cool, it has many words hidden in it: cow, war, ward, coward, dice, ice. Isn’t it intriguing?

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 01:02:45 am

That's an interesting thought here! I can see "crowd", "crow" and "row" in your chosen word too! I think there are many more in it. Cool!

Ms. Peggy

4/2/2022 02:22:59 am

I have two interesting words to share.

(1) I think “be” is an interesting word as it has seven variants - “is”, “am”, “are”, “being”, “was”, “were” and “been”! I always regard it as a transformer or a shape shifter. Do you agree? >v<

(2) I also find “her” very intriguing - it is correct to say “I brought her her pen” but not “I brought his his pen” or “I bought him him pen”. Ha! Ha! “Her” wins!

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 11:12:27 am

Very intriguing indeed! Particularly "her"! My salute to "her"!

5D 15 Michael Lam

4/2/2022 11:01:18 am

My interesting word to share with you guys is ‘colonel’.It means an officer of high rank in the army or Air Force,but the most special thing about this word is that it’s really difficult to pronounce!

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 11:14:21 am

Yes, you are right! "Colonel" is pronounced as "kernal". I wonder why!

6C04 Tony Choy

4/2/2022 03:04:51 pm

It's pronounced like that because this word was adopted by the French, who translated the term in their own language, converted the word 'colonnello' to the word 'coronel'. That's why it's pronounced like that.

Mr. Lee

4/2/2022 11:11:10 am

If you, like me, sometimes struggle to spell words with multiple double letters (e.g. tattoo, committee, accommodation) - well, this one's for you!

"Bookkeeper"

Not only is it one of the rare English words with THREE double letters, it's also one of the few where the double-letter pairs come right after the other (i.e. oo, kk, ee). We should call it the triple double!

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 11:18:42 am

A very nice choice of word Mr Lee! It reminds me of another "double letters" word which is always misspelled by students: embarrassing!

Max Sze

4/2/2022 11:20:54 am

I have an interesting word to share, and that is "euouae". It holds the Guiness World Records for the longest word without a consonant! It means "a type of cadence in medieval music". If you want to learn how to pronounce it, watch this video.-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQLuq1--5AA

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 12:12:56 pm

Wow! Certainly one of the most weird-looking words I have ever seen! It should sound like "You-OO-ee" according to dictionaries, though the pronunciation videos don't have a common result. I guess people don't use this word anymore!

Hayden Fu

4/2/2022 12:49:57 pm

I have an interesting word to share, and that is ‘racecar’. It is because it can also be spelt backwards! Definitely weird.

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 12:55:51 pm

That's a cool word! Well done!

Hugo Tang

4/2/2022 01:27:43 pm

I find the word ‘dog’ is cool because of the word ‘god’ when you spell it backwards. Maybe ‘dogs’ have fantasy power like Gauwa!

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 02:08:59 pm

What a creative thought from you Hugo!

Caspian Yeung 4B(29)

4/2/2022 01:38:43 pm

Hello, I want to share a very long and special word.It is” Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious“!Its meaning is that you have something to say when you have nothing to say!This word is very long and very hard to say,that’s why it is so special.

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 02:11:50 pm

This is from the musical Mary Poppins. It's funny made-up word. It's easier to sing it out perhaps!

4B28 Max Yau

4/2/2022 02:05:46 pm

I find the word"regardless"is quite strange,but aso intreseting.It's because there is a word called "irregardless".They both have the same meaning even the word regardless.

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 02:17:02 pm

I like your interest word PAIR! They're like flammable vs inflammable - seem like opposites but they're synonyms! Interesting!

4E19Marvel Mau

4/2/2022 03:15:59 pm

I'm afraid that the word 'rythym' isn't the longest word without vowels. I have another word that is called 'nymphly'--that's a rare word for nymphlike. It's the longest word without vowels (a,e,i,o,u).

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 04:09:41 pm

You're right! Perhaps I should refine my comment to "the longest COMMON word without a, e, i, o, and u is "rhythm" (or you may make it plural to rhythms - making it 7 letters too!)

But do mind your spelling of "rhythm". I know it's tricky!

Emmanuel Lai 6E13

4/2/2022 03:24:25 pm

Do you know there is a special word that "belongs" to aliens? I found a word called "xenology" from Google. It means the study of aliens (usually in science fiction). However, this word doesn't exist in some dictionaries.

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 04:11:44 pm

Interesting! "Ufology" is however a word. You know what it means?

Tony Choy

4/2/2022 03:27:47 pm

I have a rather interesting word to share, and that's lobbyist. One of the reasons of why it's interesting is that this word is one of the most unknown and rarely used in the English language. Plus, it's pretty hard to pronounce, and the meaning is a person who takes part in an organised attempt to influence legislators and not someone who works in a lobby. Interesting, right?

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 04:13:42 pm

Interesting choice here. You must be reading a lot on politics!

Aldon So

4/2/2022 05:44:47 pm

I have two interesting word facts :

1. Schoolmaster, a man who presides over or teaches in a school, is actually an anagram of “the classroom” ! I think that’s really interesting !

2. When you spell beg backwards, which means to ask someone earnestly or humbly for something, it’s Geb, the Egyptian god of the earth, the physical support of the world. Regardless, the word’s origin and meaning don’t relate to Egypt in anyway whatsoever !

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 06:38:18 pm

I love your first choice! What an anagram it is!

William

4/2/2022 08:35:45 pm

I have an interesting word to share with you, which is 'ambulance'. I think it's quite interesting because it pronounces like 'I can not die' in Putonghua. Also, it makes me easy to remember.

Dr H C Lee

4/2/2022 09:32:07 pm

That's a fun way to remember a pronunciation to start with! But as you read and speak more English, you won't need to rely on another language to remember an English pronunciation. Add oil!

King 4d10

4/3/2022 10:08:34 am

The longest English palindromic word is tattarrattat. It’s from James Joyce's Ulysses and the meaning is knock the door.

Dr H C Lee

4/3/2022 01:27:00 pm

Nice one! Perhaps the word "palindromic" (being the same when spelled forwards or backwards) should be regarded as interesting too! It's a pity that this word itself is NOT palindromic!

Aydan Lee 5A15

4/3/2022 10:22:20 am

The word is "Raw". If you spell raw backwards, you will get "war". I think these words kind of connect, because after a war, there will be all kinds of raw.

Lee Yuk Yin

4/3/2022 11:02:00 am

Set,because you can let your family guess which meaning are you using.

Jayden Tang

4/3/2022 11:52:58 am

hydroelectric, because it has two elements in one word

Edwin Cheung 6A08

4/3/2022 01:12:18 pm

The word "have" is a kinda special word.It HAS 26 usage(According to Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary and yep,I'm using the bilingual edition).Here are some of the examples:
1.OWN/HOLD example:I have a pencil.
2.CONSIST OF example:This group has ten members.
3.PUT IN A POSITION example:I had the fish in the bucket.
4.ILLNESS example:I have a cold.
5.PUT STH/SB IN A CONDITION example:He had his audience listening attentively.
There is a lot of other usages than these above.

Dr H C Lee

4/3/2022 01:31:50 pm

You demonstrate a great sense of grammar here. Well done!

Mr Philip Tse

4/3/2022 02:09:41 pm

If you are a Scrabble player, I have just the word for you. 'Oxyphenbutazone', which means a type of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, is theoretically the highest-scoring of all the Scrabble words. It would earn its player a mind-blowing 1,778 points! Of course, the stars should align for this word to be played successfully, so it’s never happened in an actual game. Perhaps you could be the first one ever to do so?

Dr H C Lee

4/3/2022 04:58:03 pm

I don't quite play Scrabble but still this word is AMAZING!

Tony Choy

4/3/2022 05:19:46 pm

I don't play scrabble, but if I do one day, I'd like to see other players jaw hang open at seeing this word. That would be fun!

Andrew Huang 5A08

4/3/2022 05:00:24 pm

I have an interesting word to share，that’s hangry because it’s meaning is becoming angry because you are feeling hungry and the word spells hungry+angry=hangry，it seems likes a math problem.

Jacus Kwok 5A09

4/3/2022 07:02:26 pm

I have an interesting word to share too! That word is unique. Its meaning "being the only existing one of its type or, more generally, unusual, or special in some way". I think its interesting because everyone on Earth are unique. My parents always said everyone is a unique person.

Hogan Lau 6D11

4/3/2022 08:33:01 pm

I personally think that 'faith' is a very interesting word, because it is the key to a lot of important things, for example, success.

Owen Ng 4B17

4/3/2022 08:46:42 pm

My special English word is “Dialogue”. It refers to a conversation in a book, play or film or in language teaching materials. It is
a word that contains all five vowels! ! :)

Dr H C Lee

4/3/2022 11:08:39 pm

Wow, I use this word all the time without knowing this fact!

Yau Cheuk Yuen

4/4/2022 08:15:52 am

Xertz, meaning the act of gulping something down in haste.

Yau Cheuk Lok

4/4/2022 08:19:09 am

My interesting English wordS are “rivers and lakes”. The point is if you use google translate to turn it to Chinese, the Chinese word is impossible to translate back to English from one of its special meanings ( the term usually used in a martial arts novel 江湖 ) ! I shall give any of you $ 10000 if you can translate it yourself without any help!

P.S. I don’t have that much money.

Dr H C Lee

4/4/2022 10:48:37 am

Very intriguing perspective here! But in this sense I prefer the word "jianghu" which perfectly indicates there isn't an English equivalent of the Chinese term (rivers and lakes) referring to the community of martial artists in wuxia (another interesting word!) stories.

Max Wong

4/4/2022 11:27:28 am

My interesting word is “Harrah”.
It is a name of a girl.
It is interesting because the spelling is the same either you spell it forward or backwards!

4A 11 Henry Fei

4/4/2022 11:56:09 am

The longest place name in the world is
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. It has 85 characters and holds a Guinness World Record. It is a 1,000-foot hill in New Zealand. Local people just simply call it Taumata or Taumata Hill. The second longest place name is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales. A weather man from Channel 4 News named Liam Dutton pronounced this town name perfectly!

Hope you like it

Dr H C Lee

4/4/2022 02:53:16 pm

I listened to that weather man's pronunciation of that Welsh location before. That's awesome! But I have never heard of that New Zealand hill...Super cool anyway!

5A 14 Travis Law

4/4/2022 12:48:51 pm

My interesting word is -------EUOUAE.
This word has six vowels which is the world record!
This word is interesting,isn't it?

Isaac Lau5D16

4/4/2022 01:00:44 pm

I think Wabbit is a funny word. Try to say “I’m pretty wabbit at the moment” and you'll feel very strange.

Sheldon Lien

4/4/2022 02:06:42 pm

My word to share is "hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia". It seems not too special right? The special thing is: the meaning of this word is the fear of long words. When they knew they are "hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia", won't they be feared of this word? 😅

陳維謙 4E 05 Syvester

4/4/2022 02:22:15 pm

It is in murderous mathes

Dr H C Lee

4/4/2022 03:29:33 pm

Haha...I thought it was a type of hippopotamus! ^o^

陳維謙 4E 05 Sylvester Chan

4/4/2022 02:20:44 pm

The longest word hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobic.
It means a disease that is scared of long words, seriously.

Marco Yip 5B 30

4/4/2022 03:20:08 pm

My most interesting word is by because it has no vowel in it

5D 12 Harris Kung

4/4/2022 04:51:37 pm

I think the most interesting word is snickersnee. Although this word sounds like quite adorable, it means a large, dangerous knife.

Dr H C Lee

4/4/2022 07:03:25 pm

Cute sounding indeed, but it's a dangerous weapon! Nice word to share here!

5E 13 Zenith Lee

4/4/2022 08:08:19 pm

The word I find to be most interesting is "syzygy". Not only does it have three y's (which is tied with several other words for most amount of y's in an English word), but it's meaning is oddly beautiful in a sense. It means the alignment of three celestial bodies, most commonly the Earth, Sun and moon. So, quite cool.

James So

4/5/2022 12:54:48 am

The word I find to be most interesting is Anthropomorphism
Which means attribution of human traits to things.

4E 10 Max Ho

4/5/2022 10:53:52 am

"intersting"is my favourite word,
because it needed to be named by "intresting"
^w^
4E 10 Max Ho

4C01 Duncan Chan

4/5/2022 12:18:17 pm

Have you ever felt stressed? I bet you have , just think backwards , you get desserts ! Stressed spelt backwards is desserts ! Who knew being stressed was so sweet ?

Dr H C Lee

4/6/2022 10:21:31 am

That is a wonderful idea! So being stressed can be a good thing too if we can view it in a different perspective!

Duncan Chan

4/7/2022 09:49:10 pm

Using different angles makes you come up with much more ideas , great idea.

Qantas 5E 19.

4/5/2022 01:48:43 pm

it is very interesting 🤔

5A22 Kingsley Wai

4/5/2022 10:02:07 pm

I think that the word “unique“ is interesting because it means existing as the only one or as the sole example. We are all unique and no one is the same as us. So, we should respect people as we have different cultures, abilities and qualities. As such, do you think this word is interesting and meaningful?

Dr H C Lee

4/6/2022 10:23:00 am

I love that you bring up the concept of respect. I absolutely agree with you!

Ethan Cheng

4/6/2022 09:24:23 am

My special word is ‘empty’ why? Watch. so first, try to pronounce ‘empty’ then pronounce ‘emty’ then ‘em-t’ then ‘m-t’ then what is this? -> ‘ ‘ yes, it’s empty so the word ‘empty’ is a bit funny in my opinion. :D

Cyrus Tso

4/6/2022 09:53:40 am

I think "Orange" is an interesting word, because it cannot rhyme with any word. As well as silver, purple, month, ninth, pint, wolf, opus, dangerous, marathon and discombobulate.

Dr H C Lee

4/6/2022 10:18:44 am

I love the word "orange" but I have never thought of its rhyming issue! I think "challenge" could be a good rhyming word to it, no?

Owen Chiang

4/6/2022 10:01:21 am

An interesting video

5A 28 Roderick Yuen

4/6/2022 12:42:11 pm

I have some interesting words to share with you:

1. Some of my classmates mentioned palindromes, words that are spelt the same backwards or forwards. Speaking of palindromes, the (unofficial) phobia of palindromes is called “aibohphobia.” Ironically, the word “aibohphobia” is a palindrome itself! Imagine being aibohphobic and telling your doctor that you have aibohphobia… must be terrifying.

2. The world’s longest word is the full name of the largest protein, Titin. Like its meaning, this word is also large – it’s a whopping 189, 819 words. There was a viral video on YouTube once of someone pronouncing that word, and he took 3.5 hours.

Thanks!

Dr H C Lee

4/6/2022 01:10:25 pm

Thanks for your further contribution for this video Roderick! I love the word "aibohphobia", though I doubt if this medical condition really exists! As for the longest word...it's 189,819 LETTERS (not WORDS) long! You scared me for a moment that this word contained 190 thousand other WORDS! Haha!

5E 17 Matthew Li

4/6/2022 03:54:44 pm

My special word is cake people will ask that why cake isn't start with a k so i think it is very interesting.

Dr H C Lee

4/7/2022 08:06:54 am

Interesting! Your question reminds me of that people are often unable to distinguish between the pronunciation of "cake" and "kick". Hope you aren't one of them!

Sky 6C08

4/6/2022 04:45:04 pm

I have an interesting word to share with everyone...that is "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" It means extraordinarily good or wonderful. This is one of the longest English words. Could anyone possibly tell me the opposite meaning of this word with a similar length of letters?

Miss Au

4/6/2022 11:58:36 pm

The word 'queue' is a weird word with a French meaning of 'tail', which has nothing to do with its English meaning. .\0/.
As for its spelling, I am wondering instead of having four silent letters 'ueue' right after 'q', why can't we just spell the word with alone 'q'. Umm... possibly because the rest of the letters are just politely waiting their turn...?

Dr H C Lee

4/7/2022 08:03:33 am

What an observation and interpretation of this common word! Brilliant! ^o^

6B 01 Jasper Chan

4/7/2022 09:20:59 pm

I have a very interesting word to share with everyone. Which is the word “interesting”. Why? It is because that the word interesting has a lot of meanings to everyone. Some may think that it means “Ok”, some may think that it is actually meaning “Wow”. But the most interesting part of the word “interesting” is that if we type it backwards “gnitseretni” it actually means the same as “interesting” but in Leet.

Dr H C Lee

4/8/2022 12:43:29 pm

That's very "interesting" that you pointed out that people use this word to mean different things! Actually, when we want to hide the fact that we actually don't like something but we still need to sound polite, we may use the word "interesting" instead of "I don't like it!" Haha...

Martrice Lau

4/8/2022 11:08:25 am

I have an interesting word to share with everyone...that is Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon (Letter Count: 182) This super long word is often coined by a major author Aristophanes and is the longest word ever to appear in Ancient Greek literature. What does it mean? It is a meal made from all kinds of foods like fish, meat and all sauces.

6A26marcus wan

4/8/2022 11:37:35 am

some word are really special and their letter are same when you talk opposite .For example "dad","mum","civic"

Dr H C Lee

4/8/2022 12:46:11 pm

Not "talk opposite", you want to say "spell backwards". Yes, there are many examples as you can see from the messages above from some of your schoolmates.

oceanhui

4/10/2022 03:37:50 pm

my word that i want to share is success.It is because most people read as sud-cess,but the right way to read is suhk-cess,the "sud,,need to read it stronger

Dr H C Lee

4/11/2022 01:25:32 am

Good that you observed this common pronunciation error among Hongkongers. "Success" is indeed a very tricky word not only because of its pronunciation, but also its spelling and different forms in different parts of speech (success, succeed, successful, successfully).

4C4 Jason Chow

4/11/2022 12:40:29 pm

My interesting word is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis now only it is the longest word, and it stands for disease caused by the inhalation of silica or quartz dust.

5C25 Tsui Chin Ho Jayden

4/12/2022 08:20:16 pm

I think the most interesting word is inspiration because every time I saw this word, I will think about the story of an overweight dog. And I learnt that owners of pets should be responsible.

6D10 Martin Lau

4/12/2022 10:07:27 pm

I think a special word is “choir”. It is because the spelling and the pronounciation are very different. It is pronounced as “quier”. But looking at the spelling at first it won’t seem like it. This is a special word indeed.

Dr H C Lee

4/13/2022 05:06:18 pm

Nicely pointed out! I find this pronunciation really special too!

6C20 Brody Tong

4/13/2022 01:34:34 pm

I would like to introduce this interesting word, Eunoia. It is the shortest word that contains all five main vowels. It means a feeling of goodwill especially one that exists between a speaker and an audience. How interesting it is!

Kevin Pun

4/13/2022 03:21:07 pm

I think the most interesting word of the world is “Abibliophobia”.It is because this word is very hard to speak.I try it many times but I still can’t speak it so I think it is the most interesting world in the world.HaHa!😉

Dr H C Lee

4/13/2022 05:09:06 pm

Are you suffering from abibliophobia (fear of running out of reading material)? What an intriguing word! A library is the cure for this illness!

6E14

4/13/2022 11:36:53 pm

i think that the most interest word is civic because civil have a lot of meaning about this word.It really make my eye open and learn a lot of new words.

6C Gaspard Leung

4/18/2022 07:49:19 pm

My word is fish. You might ask why this is so special, it is because if the “GH” sound in the word enough is pronounced like “F”, and the “O” in the word women makes the short “I” sound (depends on how u read it), and the “TI” in the word nation is pronounced like “SH” :
The word FISH is pronounced just like
GHOTI

5C Ethan Lee

4/19/2022 01:02:39 pm

my word is "Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff" it sound that is really not a word but believe me it is a word this word, it is so hard to speak it, someone even use it to become his name!!!!! hehe!!!!

6E 07 Austin Chong

4/19/2022 02:42:24 pm

Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff is the last name of a people too.

Austin Chong 6E 07

4/19/2022 02:41:01 pm

My word is 'pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis'. IT ius known to be the longest english word in the word. It is also a medical name.

Ian Tsang 6B17

4/19/2022 07:43:47 pm

My interesting word is "agora". Agora means a public open space used for assemblies and markets.(according to my dictionary)The fun thing is that I found this word in Wordle a guessing game and I found this word weird.So I look it up in a dictationary!

Brandon Fung 5E

4/21/2022 04:21:35 pm

terrible and horrible: horrific is same to horrible but terrific is the opposite.

Dr H C Lee

4/24/2022 12:23:15 pm

Very well pointed out! English can be very weird indeed!

4C4 Jason Chow

5/19/2022 03:20:15 pm

My word is adoulie, because it has all the vowels over thwe word , it is very special.

4c4 Jason Chow

5/19/2022 03:24:29 pm

My other word is abstemious , because it is the longest word that has all the vowels over the word , it is very special

Interesting Words — "English Time" Episode 3

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