Puzzle of the Day

Friday, May 22

Which of the following words appear in Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged?

veriest            muchly            irregardless            anyways            ain't

   


Check back tomorrow for the answer, a shoutout to all the solvers, and a new puzzle!

Previous puzzle:

I'm thinking of a letter that, although otherwise common in English, rarely appears at the end of a word; there is only one such instance in some lists of the 1000 most frequently used words. Among words that do end with this letter, an inordinate number (around 10 to 20 percent) are foods.
  1. What's the letter?
  2. How many of those foods can you think of?
  3. Are you hungry yet?
  4. BONUS: Why are so many of the words ending with this letter foods? (Coincidence? I think not.)
By the way, three Proofniks have first names ending with this letter.

Answer:

  1. The letter is I. (By far the most common word ending in I is... I.)
  2. Y'all really came through on this. Wow. A running list:
    Açaí, ají, antipasti, arancini, barramundi, basmati, biscotti, blini, broccoli, broccolini, bulgogi, calamari, cannellini, canneloni, cannoli, capellini, chai, chili, chimichurri, cicheti, confetti, cremini, donburi, fungi, fusilli, gnocchi, goji, kimchi, kiwi, lassi, lilikoi, litchi, macaroni, maki, manicotti, mochi, muesli, nigiri, pastrami, pelmeni, peperoncini, pepperoni, pierogi, pirozhki, poi, rapini, ravioli, rigatoni, rotini, salami, sashimi, scampi, spaghetti, spumoni, stromboli, sukiyaki, sushi, syrniki, tahini, takoyaki, teriyaki, tortellini, vermicelli, wasabi, yakitori, zakuski, ziti, zucchini
    (And that doesn't even include Japanese names for sushi ingredients that have English equivalents, like unagi and hamachi, nor Italian -e words that are sometimes spelled with -i in English, like fettuccini and linguini.)
  3. The most common answer was "No, I already ate." Come on, folks, where is your growth mindset?!
  4. Many of you pointed out the prominence of Italian plurals (pasta and otherwise) in the list above, and that's certainly part of the story. But the list also contains words borrowed from

    • Tupi via Portuguese (açaí)
    • Taino via Spanish (ají)
    • Hindi (basmati, chai, lassi)
    • Russian (quite a few)
    • Korean (bulgogi, kimchi)
    • Nahuatl via Spanish (chili)
    • Basque (?) via Spanish (chimichurri)
    • Japanese (quite a few)
    • Latin (fungi)
    • Chinese (goji, litchi)
    • Maori (kiwi)
    • Hawaiian (lilikoi, poi)
    • Swiss German (muesli)
    • Romanian via Yiddish (pastrami)
    • Polish (pierogi)
    • Arabic via Greek (tahini)

    In most of these languages, words ending in I (or the equivalent) are perfectly normal. But with the exception of Latin, most of these languages are not major sources of English words. When English does import a word from a language that isn't a regular trading partner, it's often because the thing the word refers to was not previously familiar to English speakers. And that applies most commonly to food!

Huzzah to solvers Aiden, Erica/Maddy, Peter V., Anna J., Leo S., and Zachary S., and a special mention to our three final-I Proofniks who are definitely not food: Aditi, Kai, and Noemi.