Human beings are curious by nature. Hence we always look for information that will benefit us or inspire us in some way and a solid fact never goes unappreciated. So here we have 15 amazing facts about English language.
1. Earth is theย only planet in our solar systemย thatโs not named after a god. All other planets are named after the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.
2. The word โALPHABETโ has come from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, bฤta. Infact there are many loan words taken from the Greek.
3. โRhythmsโ is the longest English word without any vowel.
4. The word โstartlingโ is the only nine letter word in English language where you can remove one letter at a time to create another word. Crazy right?
5. There is no word in the English language that rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
6. There are only 2 modern English words that end with โgryโ : โangryโ and โhungryโ.
There is a third word in some dictionaries that ends in โgryโ that is โanhungryโ.ย Anhungryย was aย synonymย for hungry, but it is no longer used in modern English.ย
7. Due to a printing error, there was a word in the English dictionary which didnโt have a meaning.ย The word was โDordโ and it became known as โghost wordโ. It appeared between 1932s to 1940s.
8. The only word in English that ends with the letters โmtโ is โdreamtโ (which is a variant spelling of โdreamedโ) โ as well of course as โundreamtโ)
11. Swims will be swims even when turned upside down. Such words are called ambigrams.
12. The most difficult tongue twister in the English language is โsixth sick sheikโs sixth sheepโs sickโ. Why donโt you try it out with your friends and see if any of them can say it properly.
13. If you were to write out every number name in full (one, two, three, fourโฆ), you wouldnโt use a single letter B until you reached one billion.
14. Oh โoughโ!
โOughโ can be pronounced in nine different ways! This sentence contains all nine pronunciations: โA rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.โ
15. The longest word in English language is โpneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosisโ. It has 45 letters. It is a type of lung disease caused by inhaling ash and sand dust.
One extra interesting fact for you:
Have you ever wondered why the English computer keyboard is not set out in alphabetical order? The reason for this is that in early typewriters, the keys needed to be arranged in a certain way so that the mechanical rods which held the letters did not clash with each other too much and jam. The letters needed to be separated so that the ones which were most commonly used were not next to each other.
