One-syllable words with specific technical or rare meanings

[linguoboy]

Yesterday I used the word 'milt' (as in "fish ejaculate").

[Shm Jay]

How on earth did that come up in conversation?

[Qwynegold]

What about blog and vlog?

[clawgrip]

And let's not forget id.

[linguoboy]

How on earth did that come up in conversation?

I was describing someone's activities at a bear run.

A pox on the OP, by the way; thanks to this thread, I spent the better part of my waking hours yesterday trying to recall the word "shim".

[Kereb]

There is also, of course, the bleb.

in the same category there is also the word "wen" for a sebaceous cyst

Edit: oh, and screed. But we all know what a screed is, right? right?

there's also the verb "screed" in construction, meaning "to level concrete or sand"

[Radius Solis]

There is also, of course, the bleb.

in the same category there is also the word "wen" for a sebaceous cyst

Cool. Also, "cyst" itself may be a good entry for the list, even if you couldn't call it rare.

Another in that class may be Yule.

One that crossed my mind this morning: lich. It feels like long-lost words dragged out of the grave by Dungeons and Dragons (pun intended) should somehow fail to qualify - but on the other hand it seems to have caught on, in fantasy genre jargon, for a specific type of undead creature. And I don't see how that doesn't meet the spirit of this thread (again, pun intended).

[Salmoneus]

There is also, of course, the bleb.

in the same category there is also the word "wen" for a sebaceous cyst

Cool. Also, "cyst" itself may be a good entry for the list, even if you couldn't call it rare.

Another in that class may be Yule.

One that crossed my mind this morning: lich. It feels like long-lost words dragged out of the grave by Dungeons and Dragons (pun intended) should somehow fail to qualify - but on the other hand it seems to have caught on, in fantasy genre jargon, for a specific type of undead creature. And I don't see how that doesn't meet the spirit of this thread (again, pun intended).

Indeed, even without D&D I'd say it was a genuine English word, albeit an archaic one that you'd only encounter in certain circumstances or from certain people. Plus, allowing it as a word decranberryises 'lichgate'.

[ayyub]

I nominate car, as used in Lisp. FMI, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAR_and_CDR.

[Ambrisio]

And let's not forget id.

That isn't a technical term.

How about "erf" (error function)?

[Radius Solis]

bough
weir
awl
whorl
brad (the type of nail)
knoll?

[clawgrip]

And let's not forget id.

That isn't a technical term.

How is it not? It is a highly specific concept that is a core element of one person's model of the psyche. The word was borrowed into English from a simple Latin pronoun specifically and exclusively to represent this concept. I'm not sure what kind of conversations you generally have, but I can say that in-depth discussions on Freudian theory are pretty rare in my day-to-day life, and I would guess that not so many of us are well-versed enough in it to discuss it intelligently.

[KathTheDragon]

Dwale
Mimp

I have no idea where those came from, but my friend reblogged it on Tumblr.

[Drydic]

And let's not forget id.

That isn't a technical term.

How about "erf" (error function)?

The irony in this post is overwhelming.

[Xephyr]

"Irony"'s a bit too complimentary, don't you think?

[Kereb]

karst!

[Radius Solis]

Mmm, karst.

Also: lien.


You came up with "creche" yesterday, did you forget to post?

[Salmoneus]

mien
shank (both meanings)
scrim
quoll (sp?)
thane
laird
thrall
dirk
jute
farl
bla (ok, this one doesn't exist in dictionaries. It's a type of breadroll commonly found in Munster, which is similar to a homemade, square bap - very floury, soft, with hardly any crust. Never seen it spelled, so it's possible it should be 'blath', assuming it's borrowed from the gaelic word for a flower (cf our 'bloomer'), but it's used commonly in English, so long as you're in the context of buying bread from local bakeries in the Waterford region)
warp (in its technical meaning)
weft
harl
carl
card (again, the textile term, if that's distinct enough to be considered)
ceorl
lede (both meanings)
leal
fief
bluff (geographic sense)
brume
gill (geographic sense)
beck
thwaite
coomb
pith (in all three meanings!)
scry
skein
slag

[Hallow XIII]

Notabene: id != ID. (Which is not one syllable in the first place.=

[Radius Solis]

Sal, you missed "copse".

[Salmoneus]

Notabene: id != ID. (Which is not one syllable in the first place.=

...wow, thank you oh non-native-speaker for educating us poor native speakers about how two different words we say in this language that we speak which nobody has ever shown any sign of confusing are in fact different words from one another. This is entirely new information to me, and extremely useful to be told. I have indeed notaed it exceptionally bene, and will endeavour not to confuse these two words myself in the future!

Are there any breathtakingly obvious statements of the uncontested you'd like me to make about your language in return? Assuming you're a German-speaker, were you aware (and if not then do take note, this is very important!) that that funny B-shape Germans write sometimes isn't actually a 'B', it actually makes more of an S-sound? Iirc in your country you write 'ss' instead, which makes more sense. Anyway, it's an important think to bear in mind! Hope I've helped!

[Salmoneus]

Sal, you missed "copse".

Wasn't an exhaustive list. Besides, 'copse' wouldn't occur to me as a rare word - we use it frequently round these parts (we have a lot of copses. It's very copsey).
[Nor 'creche, for that matter. That's a plain ordinary-day word]

'Scrag', on the other hand, in all its (ok, I looked this one up to make sure I wasn't inventing it) eight meanings, is not a common word round these parts. Nor is 'scrog', for that matter (which I wouldn't have known if I hadn't just looked up 'scrag'). 'Tog', 'wog', 'nog', 'pog' (ok, that's probably a name and doesn't count), 'lag' (in the insulationg sense), and 'blag'?

Ell and pell and quell,
Pall, squall, and caul.
Skulk and scull.

Etc.

[KathTheDragon]

that funny B-shape Germans write sometimes isn't actually a 'B', it actually makes more of an S-sound

It's called an Ess-zett, or something to that effect. a transparent compound of the names for the letters 's' and 'z', owing to its origin.

[Salmoneus]

that funny B-shape Germans write sometimes isn't actually a 'B', it actually makes more of an S-sound

It's called an Ess-zett, or something to that effect. a transparent compound of the names for the letters 's' and 'z', owing to its origin.

...wow. This thread just gets more and more useful!

Now if only someone could tell me: is England in the NORTHERN hemisphere or the SOUTHERN? Wait, is that right at all? Are we sure the earth is really round? Has anyone done a study on that, does anyone know!? Quick, quick, without somebody to tell me things that we all already know, I'm totally lost!!!


...ok, that was harsh, I'll admit. But it was that or pull my own hair out, sorry.

[KathTheDragon]

Are we sure the earth is really round?

Good question. Who is 'we'? I've certainly never seen first-hand evidence that the Earth is round.