by Kevin Burton
Merriam-Webster promised me a list of Scrabble words without vowels, but delivered a bunch of words (with one exception) with the letter Y in them.
Y is a vowel, a card-carrying vowel. The fact that it has a part-time job as a consonant does not change that. The venerable dictionary admitted as much in a disclaimer.
“Okay, so technically the letter y is mostly a vowel but you know what we mean: things can look pretty bleak out there on the Scrabble field when all you’ve got on your tile bench is a bunch of clunky consonants (and sometimes y). This article is designed for such situations,” Merriam-Webster wrote.
The one time I turn away from Merriam-Webster is when I’m playing Scrabble, using the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. A Scrabble word is not necessarily a real word you use in everyday life. “What does it mean” is not a Scrabble kind of question.
A “word” is either in the book or not. It says of itself “I’m here (in the Scrabble dictionary) therefore I am.”
The Merriam-Webster list which follows is useful, but when I think of Scrabble words without vowels, I’m thinking of “sh” meaning “be quiet” or “mm” meaning “yum.”
Here is their partially-yummy list:
Lymph
Lymph once meant “plant sap,” but now refers to (deep breath) “a usually clear coagulable fluid that passes from intercellular spaces of body tissue into the lymphatic vessels, is discharged into the blood by way of the thoracic duct, and resembles blood plasma in containing white blood cells and especially lymphocytes but normally few red blood cells and no platelets.” Anyhoo, playing lymph in Scrabble is worth at least 15 points.
Lynx
Another four-letter word that can score you a lot of points, even without a special tile. This word used for several wildcats with long legs, stubby tails, mottled coats, and usually tufted ears will get you at least 14 points. Lynx traces all the way back to Greek and may share a root with the Greek word for “white,” leukos.
Hwyl
This short word for an emotion that inspires impassioned eloquence will net you at least 13 points. Hwyl is a Welsh borrowing that in Welsh can also mean “sail,” “sheet,” “journey,” “course,” or “mood.” It also forms part of the traditional Welsh farewell hwyl fawr.
Flybys
Tied for the highest-scoring word on this list with 17 points, flybys (not flybies) is the plural of flyby.
Cwm
This vowelless standout (not even a y!) is pronounced KOOM and refers to a deep steep-walled basin on a mountain usually forming the blunt end of a valley. It may only have 3 letters, but it will earn you at least 10 points.
Myrrh
Gold will only net you 6 points, and at 12 letters, frankincense is going to be a stretch to play (unless you’re building off of incense or frank, of course), so myrrh is perhaps the greatest gift of the three for Scrabble players, worth 13 points at minimum.
Thymy/Mythy
A dish abounding in or fragrant with thyme is thymy, and something resembling or concerned with myth is mythy. Mythy and thymy are anagrams of each other, so play whichever you like and score at least 16 fragrant, fabulous points.
Sphynx
Speaking of myth, playing sphinx, which refers to a monster of Greek mythology, will certainly net you a goodly number of points. But riddle us this: what if you don’t have, or have access to, an i? Well, buddy, then look for a y instead and play this word for a breed of (virtually) hairless cats for a whopping 17 points.
Crypt
There’s no need to be cryptic about crypt. You can play it for 12 points (or much more, if you can land a triple word score or somesuch). This word for a chamber in a mausoleum was borrowed into English from the Latin crypta or crupta, meaning “covered passage” or “underground word.”
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