10 Fun Facts About Words Which Use All Vowels

Which adjective describes someone who practices abstinence, especially in eating and drinking?

It is one of the few common English words that contain all five vowels once each, in alphabetical order.

What term describes treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant?

It is the best-known English word with a, e, i, o and u appearing once each in alphabetical order; add '-ly' and y joins the parade too.

Which word means receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university?

It is the shortest everyday word most people know that packs in all five vowels, though not in alphabetical order. The root is Latin educare, 'to bring up'.

What adjective means very numerous; existing in great numbers?

Shakespeare's Macbeth famously fears his bloody hand would 'the multitudinous seas incarnadine'. The word uses all five vowels, with u appearing three times.

Which word describes a sound, especially speech, that is pleasing to the ear?

From Greek eu ('well') and phone ('sound'), it contains all five vowels and its antonym, cacophonous, comes from kakos, 'bad'.

In pathology, what is a piece of dead bone separated from surrounding healthy bone called?

It is Latin for 'something set apart', the same root as 'sequester'. Removing one surgically is a sequestrectomy, and the word manages all five vowels in ten letters.

Which term relates to the design, construction, and navigation of aircraft?

It opens with three vowels in a row and contains all five. Its parent noun combines Greek aer ('air') with nautes ('sailor').

What adjective describes something important, especially in terms of its results or effects?

Applied to a person it once meant self-important. The word contains all five vowels, and so does its antonym with the 'in-' prefix.

Which word means very unusual, remarkable, or surprising?

The prefix means 'outside' or 'beyond'. It is one of the few all-five-vowel words in everyday use, and in British speech it is often squeezed to four syllables.

What adjective means expressing a low opinion; not flattering?

With fifteen letters it is one of the longest common words to use every vowel, and its 'un-' supplies the u that the base word lacks.