We at OrangePurpleSilver.com are, you could say, a little bit fond of words that don’t rhyme. So we have decided to claim September 1 of each year as National No-Rhyme (nor Reason) Day.
We believe that if there can be days celebrating corn dogs, underwear and accordions, there certainly should be a day that commemorates those words in the English language that have no rhyme. These are, to be sure, special words and, of course, include our namesakes: Orange, Purple and Silver. Actually, there are thousands of rhymeless English words.
So what should you do to celebrate?
- Perhaps a visit to your local library (check out a book, make a librarian’s day)
- Write some poetry (it doesn’t have to rhyme; in fact, we encourage the non-rhyming varieties)
- Try out that restaurant near your home or office that you’ve been wanting to sample (extra points for trying sushi, as it doesn’t rhyme with anything, either)
- Go to you local bar or pub and order a drink that you’ve never tried (extra points for any drink that has “orange” “purple” or “silver” in its name; jackpot points for any drink that has all three!)
Memories!
Don’t you remember Witchie Poo of H. R. Puff-N-Stuff?
Oranges poranges, who says there ain’t no rhyme for oranges?”
(But hey, we have to give credit to Witchie Poo: she did drive around in the ultra cool Vroom-Broom—which does rhyme, too!)
What about “purple”?
Nothing rhymes with “purple”—but:
To find a rhyme for silver
Or any rhymeless rhyme
Requires only will, ver-
Bosity and time.
What follows is to be sure, just a partial list of words without rhyming partners. We invite you to submit other words that have no rhyme (nor reason) and celebrate with us the wonderful world of Words Without Rhyme.
Of course, the first three on our list are silver, orange and purple. Here, in alphabetical order are the other non-rhyming words we’ve been able to find. Help us expand our list by emailing us here. We would especially appreciate any contributions in the J, Q, X and Y categories.
A
algorithm
almond
angry
angst
animal
anxious
aspirin (as two or three syllables)
average
B
bachelor
breadth
bulbous
C
calumny (noun or verb)
cannabis
caveat
chimney
citizen
citrus
comedy
comment
consonant
customize
cusp
cusps
cusped
D
dangerous
depth
depths
diamond (as two or three syllables)
dissident
discombobulate
E
eighth
eighths
elbow
empty
engine
F
fifth
fifths
fifthed
film
filmed
foible
fugue
fugues
fugued
G
galaxy
glimpsed
gulf
gulfs
gulfed
H
heighth
heighths
hundred
hundredth
husband
I
integer
iron
J
K
karsts (that’s a word?!)
kiln
kilns
kilned
L
laundry
liquid
logarithm
luggage
M
marathon
monster
month
mulcts
N
neutron
necessary
ninja
ninth
ninths
nothing
O
obvious
oblige
obliged
olive
opus
P
pedant
penguin
pint
polka
Q
R
radii
redundancy
résumé
rosary
S
sacrificing
sanction
sandwich
sasquatch
scalp
sepulchre
sixth
sixths
something
synonym
syzygy
T
tournament
tragedy
transfer (noun)
twelfth
twelfths
U
uvula
V
vegetable (as three or four syllables)
vacuum (as two or three syllables)
W
width
wolf
wolfs
wolve
X
Y
Z
zigzag