AEIOU: A THIRTY-YEAR QUEST
by Susan Thorpe
Word Ways, August 1999
My FAVOURITE words are those in which the five vowels A, E, I, O and U each occur just once. They are referred to as AEIOU words. Over the last 30 years, Word Ways contributors have tried to find examples of these words to satisfy all 120 permutations of the five vowels. Whilst it is relatively easy to find several examples for many of the permutations, for others it is a struggle to find even one. Here, to begin with, is the story of the AEIOU quest.
HISTORY
It all started back in the November 1969 issue of Word Ways with Ross Eckler's article Unsociable Housemaid Discourages Facetious Behaviour. Ross was seeking at least one uncapitalised English word to satisfy each of the 120 AEIOU permutations. Initially, with the help of Dmitri Borgmann and Darryl Francis, he found one or more words for 104 of the 120 permutations. In the February 1970 issue he added LARYNGOFISSURE (AOIUE), FIEULAMORT (IEUAO) - with Darryl Francis, PYROCATECHUIC (OAEUI), UNPRAISEWORTHY (UAIEO) and PULVERIZATOR (UEIAO), all from Webster's Second Edition. [It is also worth noting that, in February 1970, VIOLATURE (IOAUE) and MULTIRAMOSE (UIAOE), both in Webster's Second, were offered as replacements for non-Websterian examples.] Thus, by 1970, a total of 109 of the permutations had been catered for, leaving 11 gaps: AEIUO, AUIEO, EAIUO, IAEUO, IAUEO, IEAUO, IUEOA, OAIEU, OAUEI, OEIAU and UIAEO. Since that time, examples have been found to fill these gaps (below) but only some of them adhere to the 'uncapitalised English words' constraint. Here is a timetable of events:
Feb 1970
Feb 1975
Feb 1975
May 1977
May 1979
May 1979
Aug 1985
Nov 1993
Feb 1994
Feb 1994
Feb 1994
Feb 1994
Feb 1994Andrew Griscom
Darryl Francis
Darryl Francis
Philip Cohen
Sir Jeremy Morse
Sir Jeremy Morse
Murray Geller
Susan Thorpe
Susan Thorpe
Chris Long
Chris Long
Chris Long
Chris LongUIAEO Cuitlateco (Web2)
OAUEI opaqueing (OED1 cit)
EAIUO sea-liquor (CD)
OAIEU Ornacieux (OSN France)
IUEOA picture-board (OED)
IAEUO village burrow (OED)
OEIAU Oeciacus (Web3)
AEIUO Laeviturbo (NZ)
IUEOA milquetoast (Web3)
AUIEO cauilero (OED)
AUIEO Marquisedom (OED)
IAUEO lillabullero (OED cit)
IEAUO Ierfaulcon (OED cit)capitalised
good
hyphenated
capitalised
hyphenated
2-word phrase
capitalised
capitalised
good
good
capitalised
good
capitalisedSo, by February 1994, all 11 gaps had been filled. Incredibly, it had taken nearly 25 years to find at least one example to represent each of the 120 AEIOU permutations!
CURRENT EVENTS
Five more years have now elapsed and 1999 marks the 30th anniversary of the inception of the AEIOU quest. Those less than perfect examples still reside in our list. Can we get rid of any of them? I decided it was time to search for improvements. As a result, I can now offer the following alternatives:
Aug 1999
Aug 1999
Aug 1999
Aug 1999
Aug 1999
Aug 1999Susan Thorpe
Susan Thorpe
Susan Thorpe
Susan Thorpe
Susan Thorpe
Susan ThorpeAEIUO cane-liquor (Web2)
EAIUO recapitulor (OED cit)
IAEUO inaequo (CLD)
OAIEU containerful (BT)
OEIAU coeliacus (Web3)
UIAEO quinaseptol (CDS)hyphenated
Latin
Latin
good
Latin
goodReaders will have to decide for themselves whether or not hyphenated words are preferable to capitalised words; and whether they prefer single, unhyphenated Latin words to the examples previously found.
In List A below, the 109 non-italicised words are Ross Eckler's 1969 and 1970 contributions. The italicised words are subsequent additions.
SINGLE SOURCES
In the May 1979 Word Ways, David Shulman presented An AEIOU Examination. This was an exercise to find words for as many of the 120 AEIOU permutations as possible from a single source - Funk and Wagnall's Standard College Dictionary. He found 283 words, to which Ross Eckler added another 80. These 363 words represented 68 of the 120 permutations but, unfortunately, none filled any of the gaps pertaining at the time. Shulman's particular approach to the AEIOU hunt started me thinking... would it be possible to satisfy all 120 permutations with words taken from any single dictionary? Admittedly this sounds rather ambitious. Being patriotic, I decided to try the single dictionary exercise with that British bible, the Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition. I imposed only two constraints, being very aware of how restrictive those two words 'uncapitalised' and 'English' had proved to be. Firstly, the words must appear somewhere in the OED, be it as head words, variant forms, or words in the text including citations. When provided with a choice, I gave preference to head words. The second constraint was not to repeat any of the words which appeared in List A. The results of my OED searches are given in List B below. I was successful in finding at least one OED word (in some cases only one word) for each of the 120 permutations. Initially I didn't quite meet my second target, four words appearing in both List A and List B. However, I managed to release these words for exclusive use in List B by finding List A replacements, the permutations concerned being AIEUO, IAUEO, IEAUO and IUEOA. Thus my second goal had also been achieved, all 120 OED words in List B being different from the words in List A. Implicitly this means that, overall, at least two words of some description have now been found to represent each of the 120 AEIOU permutations. The fact that none of the words in List B is hyphenated and only one, Ierfaulcon (IEAUO), capitalised is a bonus.
In these lists, a word shown in brackets is the head word under which the listed word can be found. Where relevant, it is followed by a citation date. A variant form is shown by vf.
REFERENCES
BT= Bloomsbury Thesaurus 1993
CLD = Cassell's Latin Dictionary 1948
CD(S) = Century Dictionary 1889-91 (Supplement 1909)
Dor = Dorland's Medical Dictionary
NZ = Nomenclator Zoologicus
OED1 = Oxford English Dictionary 1st edition
OED = Oxford English Dictionary 2nd edition
OSN = Official Standard Names Gazetteer
Sted = Stedman's Medical Dictionary
TIG = Times Index Gazetteer of the World
WebC5 = Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 5th edition
WebC7 = Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 7th edition
Web2 = Webster's New International Unabridged Dictionary 2nd edition
Web3 = Webster's New International Unabridged Dictionary 3rd editionTHE LISTS
LIST A LIST B AEIOU facetious (WebC7) caesious AEIUO Laeviturbo (NZ), cane-liquor (Web2) aegritudo (aegritude) AEOIU pandemonium (WebC7) archesporium (archespore) AEOUI haemofuscin (Web2) warehousing AEUIO maleruption (Web2) flabergudgion AEUOI aneuploid (Web3) aequorin AIEOU ambidextrous (WebC7) aireous AIEUO archineuron (Web2) antineutrons (anti- 1942) AIOEU carillonneur (WebC7) raisonneur AIOUE grandiloquent (WebC7) graciousness AIUEO antinucleon (Web3) adinuencyons (adinvention 1413) AIUOE radiculose (Web3) ramiculose AOEIU apothecium (WebC7) macrotherium (macrothere) AOEUI allotelluric (Web2) manoeuvring AOIEU amortisseur (Web3) agonieux (agony) AOIUE laryngofissure (Web2) acrostique (vf acrostic) AOUEI accoutering (WebC7) assouerit AOUIE tambourine (WebC7) savouriness AUEIO aculeiform (Web3) haugersion AUEOI aureomycin (Web3) aureolin AUIEO cauilero (OED) alumineor (alluminor) AUIOE cauliflower (WebC7) cautioned AUOEI autosexing (WebC7) tautomerism AUOIE authorize (WebC7) vacuolized EAIOU behaviour (WebC7) mendacious EAIUO sea-liquor (CD), recapitulor(OED -head 1678) beatitudo (beatitude) EAOIU crematorium (WebC7) metapodium EAOUI reavouching (Web2) enamouring EAUIO exhaustion (WebC7) reassumption EAUOI tentaculoid (Web3) pennatuloid EIAOU pedimanous (Web3) epiphanous EIAUO semiauto (Web3) peliagudo (sharp 1755) EIOAU plesiosaur (WebC7) periostracum EIOUA ventriloqual (WebC5) heliofugal EIUAO gesticulatory (WebC7) recirculatory EIUOA semicupola (Web2) ventriculography EOAIU endocardium (WebC7) neopallium EOAUI seroalbumin (Web2) menopausic EOIAU neostriatum (Web3) excoriatus (flay c1440) EOIUA dentolingual (WebC5) precommisural EOUAI encouraging (WebC7) depopulating EOUIA dentosurgical (WebC5) precommunicant EUAIO education (WebC7) equation EUAOI euharmonic (Web3) eukaryotic EUIAO repudiator (WebC7) elucidator EUIOA equivocal (WebC7) equimolar EUOAI neuropathic (WebC7) eustomachic EUOIA sequoia (WebC7) neurotically IAEOU intravenous (WebC7) filamentous IAEUO village burrow (OED), inaequo (CLD) invaletudo (invaletude) IAOEU citharoedus (Web2) cinnamomeus (flat 1859) IAOUE miaoued (WebC5) dialogue IAUEO diauchenos(Dor) lillabullero (Lillibullero 1782) IAUOE disaccustomed (WebC7) triantulope (vf triantelope) IEAOU tricephalous (Web3) dipetalous IEAUO printer-author (OED - printer) Ierfaulcon (gyrfalcon 1580) IEOAU diesophagus (?) - is in Dor interrogatus (Hanse 1279) IEOUA intercolumnar (Web3) intercommunal IEUAO fieulamort (Web3) dimensurator IEUOA interpulmonary (Web3) irreuocably (consistory 1502) IOAEU lithofracteur (Web2) icosaedrum (vf icosahedron) IOAUE isopaque (?), violature (Web2) microcapsule IOEAU hippocentaur (Web3) microcephalous IOEUA incommensurably (WebC7) inopercular IOUAE discourage (WebC7) incomputable IOUEA isonuclear (Web3) micronuclear IUAEO linguaeform (Web3) stipulaeform IUAOE fistulatome (Web2) linguaphone IUEAO vituperator (WebC7) induperator IUEOA Figueroa (TIG - in Chile) milquetoast (Milquetoast 1973) IUOAE insupportable (WebC7) insupposable IUOEA immunotherapy (WebC7) circumcorneal OAEIU hypotrachelium (Web3) mycobacterium OAEUI pyrocatechuic (Web2) longaeuity (longevity 1621) OAIEU containerful (BT) solacieus (solacious) OAIUE portraiture (WebC7) ortanique OAUEI opaqueing (OED) contrauersi (sorely c1450) OAUIE consanguine (WebC7) oraculize OEAIU overpainful (Web2) cometarium OEAUI overhauling (WebC7) overvaulting OEIAU Oeciacus (Web3), coeliacus (Web3 - coeliac) obeiauns OEIUA proventricular (Web3) conventicular OEUAI conceptualism (WebC7) coequality OEUIA obsequial (Web3) orteguina OIAEU poplitaeus (Web3) omnigatherum OIAUE foliature (WebC5) consignature OIEAU moineau (Web2) cointreau OIEUA ovicellular Web3) coniecturall (conjectural 1597) OIUAE continuable (Web2) orbiculate OIUEA solifugean (Web3) constituentary OUAEI outcapering (Web2) outwandering OUAIE tourmaline (WebC7) gourmandise OUEAI housemaid (WebC7) mousetail OUEIA volumetrically (WebC7) countercyclical OUIAE communicate (WebC7) occupiable OUIEA bountihead (Web2) outlinear UAEIO quaternion (WebC7) unattention UAEOI quatrefoil (WebC7) crustaceoid UAIEO unpraiseworthy (Web2) guarnimento (ray c1450) UAIOE ultraviolet (WebC7) ungainsome UAOEI ultramodernism (Web2) unatmospheric UAOIE uvarovite (WebC7) unaccomplished UEAIO numeration (WebC7) putrefaction UEAOI unreasoning (WebC7) unseasoning UEIAO pulverizator (Web2) guesstimator UEIOA questionably (WebC7) unreciprocal UEOAI undemocratic (WebC7) undercoating UEOIA unmethodical (WebC70 unrhetorical UIAEO quinaseptol (CDS) subitaneo (sudden) UIAOE multianode (?), multiramose (Web2) undiagnosed UIEAO quindecagon (WebC5) multimegaton (multi- 1958) UIEOA unipersonal (Web2) multipersonal UIOAE unimportance (WebC7) undissolvable UIOEA undiscoverably (Web3) unicorneal UOAEI sulphophthaleins (Web2) burgomastership UOAIE unorganized (WebC7) sulphocyanide UOEAI suboceanic (WebC7) unoperating UOEIA uncongenial (WebC7) uncommercial UOIAE subordinate (WebC7) unsociable UOIEA unoriental (Web2) uncomplimentary