[Duncan Gillies MacLaurin]

Here they are.

Duncan

[Richard Meyer]

Curious. Curious, indeed.

Long ago I read in a book that the most beautiful sounding expression in the English language is cellar door. And neither word appears on that list.

Tell me where is beauty bred,
Or in the ear or in the head?

Richard

[Gail White]

Just considered as a sound, "verminous" is a beautiful word.

[Orwn Acra]

Some of my favorite words are incunabula, amphigory, parallax, Tryphiodorus, arbitrary, and Ferdinand de Saussure.

[Maryann Corbett]

Richard Lederer, in his hilarious book Anguished English, takes apart the notion that words are "beautiful" because of sound alone. He tells the story of a foreign couple who were enthusiastic about learning English and wanted to name their daughter with the most beautiful English word they could find. They named her "Diarrhea."

Duncan, is there any information about the basis for the collection of these words? Perhaps I missed that.

[Cally Conan-Davies]

Only three monosyllabic words, and no verbs! Why no verbs, I wonder?

Oh yes there is - 'conflate'! Missed it... oh - and "gambol"! I must have been verb-blind in my first read through!

[Duncan Gillies MacLaurin]

Originally Posted by Maryann Corbett

Duncan, is there any information about the basis for the collection of these words? Perhaps I missed that.

I'm no wiser than anyone else. I just followed the link I found.

Duncan

[Jan D. Hodge]

Ed: "There should be more 'v' words on this list."

Agreed! I offer one of my favorites, "velleity."

And my favorite didactylic word: "minimifidian."

Jan

[Ed Shacklee]

Originally Posted by Gail White

Just considered as a sound, "verminous" is a beautiful word.

There should be more 'v' words on this list.

[Shaun J. Russell]

Happily surprised to see Susquehanna on there. I've driven from D.C. to Buffalo several times to visit in-laws, and each time I've followed the Susquehanna northward, I've marveled at both the name and the river itself. Indeed, the name is quite apt: the Susquehanna is very shallow and marshy, with a lot of brush and disembodied tree branches climbing out of it at the most unusual junctures. It looks like you'd imagine "Susquehanna" to look.

Most of the others are indeed quite "poetic" words. And I can't really dispute the beauty of any of them (except maybe "susurrous"), as subjective as such a thing surely is.

One of my favorite words lately has been "rubric." There's something satisfyingly logical about that word, isn't there? And I agree with Ed Shacklee about "v" words. Vermilion is one of my personal faves.