phth

hernesheir Additional -phth- words not listed here can be found at *phth. Dec 29, 2011

skipvia I didn't know that either when I started the list, wordlover42. I'm still looking some of them up. That's why I'm a Wordie. That, and the chicks. :-) Jun 20, 2009

wordlover42 cool! My personal favorite is phthongometer.It's just fun to say. Jun 19, 2009

chained_bear Yes! and there's even a tag for them too. :)

P.S. skip is always graceful and funny. :) Jun 19, 2009

wordlover42 Wow.. I never knew there were so many words that had phth! Jun 19, 2009

yaybob Good answer. Graceful and funny. Dec 17, 2008

skipvia *catching my breath*

OK--I don't think there is any reason to exclude words that have the same root, such as aphthous and aphtha. Both belong in equal measure. I'm glad to know that aphthous is a word, and I probably wouldn't have run across it elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned, if the sequence phth occurs in the word, it goes on the list.

But--this is a public list you can add or not add whatever you want for whatever reason you want and I'd happily accept it. You could even add 'chthonic' if you want, although I'd love to see it on a separate list of your own. I'm sure I'd learn much from that list. Dec 17, 2008

yaybob Two things. All opinions solicited, although I believe that skipva should decide which of these ideas, if any, is helpful.

(1) I added aphthous and subsequently noticed aphtha on the list. These are the same thing, and in my opinion, aphthous should be stricken from the list. However, it is not my list and I didn't want to take the liberty. By the same token, because ophthalmologist appears on the list, we probably don't also want ophthalmology, ophthalmologic, ophthalmological, or ophthalmologically. However, xerophthalmia (a condition of dry eyes) and microphthalmos (abnormal smallness of one or both eyes) are on the list and probably should be. They are sufficiently different in meaning and form from ophthalmologist. Microphthalmos differs in meaning only subtly from microphthalmia, the first, as best I can tell, being the abstract idea of the smallness of eyeballs, the other, the fact of it being the case in an individual - genus and species, type and token. Anophthalmia and anophthalmos are analogous, except pertaining to no eye forming. Probably one of these should be included. I have taken the liberty of adding anophthalmia, in the spirit of monophthong, diphthong and triphthong. But how about ophthalmoscope, which in form is like all of the other ophth- words above, but conceptually, is just as unique relative to ophthalmologist as microphthalmos? I will defer to skipva to decide whether to include ophthalmoscope rather than add it myself.

I realize that I'm splitting hairs here somewhat, but isn't that what we do? And just to torture this subject even further, how about another little exercise in lumping and splitting. Who's up for that?

(2) Can we not find a place in this list for two buddies of 'phth,' namely 'chth' and 'ghth,' which are actually even more rare. I would be interested in the words in which they appear in the same syllable, like chthonic and eighth, not words which split them such as autochthonous and knighthood, although frankly, the latter aren't fundamentally different from ophthalmologist, which also splits the 'ph' and 'th' across syllables. Words which contain the the 'phth' sound in the same syllable, like phthalein and phthisis, are, to me, more special. Those other words are really no more interesting than highchair or earthshaking, and were it not for the monosyllabic 'phth' words, this might not be a category for a list. Dec 17, 2008

skipvia Done, Pro. Many thanks. I think I'll just open this list up. Jun 20, 2008

Prolagus Aphthovirus*? Hephthalites?

* Wow, aphthoviruses are also panvocalic! (I know you know...) Jun 20, 2008

skipvia Duly added. Many thanks. Dec 2, 2007

vanishedone How about triphthong? (Like a diphthong, but incorporating three vowels.) Dec 2, 2007

reesetee I'm just amazed at how many words make the list! Great idea, skipvia. Oct 18, 2007

chained_bear I love this list! Oct 17, 2007

skipvia Yoiks! I should have done a bit more research before I started this list. Thanks, yarb. Oct 17, 2007

skipvia Sionnach, you never cease to amaze. Oct 17, 2007

yarb Why were you at the ophthalmologist's, sionnach? Perhaps you suffer from exophthalmia? Oct 17, 2007

sionnach This list makes me feel phthisic. I hope I didn't catch a bout of diphtheria at the ophthalmologist's. Oct 17, 2007

skipvia Beautiful, c_b. It's happily residing on my list. Oct 17, 2007

npydyuan phthor Oct 17, 2007

chained_bear How about naphtha? (As in Fels-Naphtha?) Oct 17, 2007