Nandor's Exhaustive Chemical Words Pages
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The following pages are dedicated to English words that can be spelled using element symbols (or chemical symbols, as it were). These lists are good through 2/19/10, and include all elements through element 112, Copernicium (Cn), which was named on February 19th, 2010.  I know these pages are rather bare-bones, but I wanted folks just to be able to see the words and get on with things.

Who might be interested in this page? Anyone who loves chemistry, certainly. High school teachers could use these words to increase the interest in the subject. How about English lovers who want ONe SUPEr ScHoLaSTiC PrOCeSS ThAt He/SHe CaN USe In ClAsS?  Or what about chemistry teachers trying to help student learn their element symbols (Question:  Picasso pioneered what short-lived but influential form of art?  Answer: Copper + Bismuth + Samarium = CuBiSm).

Please see the Explanations section below for more information on the ENABLE word list.

For more chemical word fun, see Frank Jones's page, http://www.chemwords.com

Exhaustive Word Lists:

1. A list of all English words (26,811 of them, plus two not in ENABLE) that can be spelled with element symbols.  [list]

1a. A list of all of the spellings of those words (56,431 ways, plus nine not in ENABLE).  [list]

2. A list of all English words (19,792 of them, plus one not in ENABLE) that can be spelled with distinct element symbols (so "papa" is not allowed since it would take a repeat of Pa to spell it).  [list]

2a. A list of all of the spellings of those words (30,579 ways, plus one not in ENABLE).  [list]

3. A list of all spellings of English words (1510 of them) that can be spelled solely using one-character element symbols.  [list]

4. A list of all spellings of English words(1537 of them) that can be spelled solely using two-character element symbols.  [list]

5. A list of all spellings of English words (608 of them) that can be spelled solely using distinct one-character element symbols (so "bib" is not allowed since it would take a repeat of B to spell it).  [list]

6. A list of all spellings of English words(1452 of them) that can be spelled solely using distinct two-character element symbols (so "papa" is not allowed since it would take a repeat of Pa to spell it).   [list]

7.  A list of first names (734 of them) that can be spelled with element symbols.  These names are taken from the 1000 most popular baby names (for each gender) in America from each decade since 1880 (a total of 4765 distinct names were thus considered), according to the Social Security Administration.  [list]

7a.  A list of the spellings of those names (944 of them).  [list]

8.  A list of countries (34 of them) that can be spelled with element symbols.  This list only includes current countries that have been accepted by the United Nations, so for instance KOsOVO is not (yet?) included.  Where possible, phrases like "Republic of" have not been considered.  [list]

8a.  A list of the spellings of those countries (60 of them).  [list]

8b.  Cute puzzle from Sandy Weisz (Chicago Redeye Puzzler) via NPR Weekend Edition Sunday:  Take a country whose name contains a symbol for a chemical element, and change it to a different chemical element to get another country. For example, if Aruba were an independent country, you could take the "Ar," which is the chemical symbol for argon, and change it to "C," which is the chemical symbol for carbon, to come up with Cuba. There are three answers to this puzzle, and all three must be found.  Find the answer here.

Interesting Facts: 

There are no new words that can be spelled with the addition of Copernicium (Cn), though we have added twenty-four new spellings (any word that could be spelled with C followed by N can also be spelled with Cn).

The longest word you can spell with element symbols is "nonrepresentationalisms," which can be spelled four different ways with symbols, one of which is "NoNRePReSeNTaTiONaLiSmS."  There is a tie for longest words if only unique element symbols may be used:  "hypercoagulabilities" and "hyperconsciousnesses" ("HYPErCoAgULaBiLiTiEs" and "HYPErCoNScIOUSnEsSeS").  The first word alphabetically is "acacias" ("AcAcIAs"), a type of shrub, and the last word alphabetically is "ywis" ("YWIS"), a Middle-English way of saying "certainly."

There are two words tied for having the largest number of different spellings with symbols:  each of "innocuousnesses" and "inconspicuousnesses" can be spelled in 48 different ways.  Similarly, there are two words tied for having the largest number of different spellings using distinct symbols:  each of "pocosin" and "inosculate" can be spelled 13 different ways with distinct symbols.  Interestingly, those 13 spellings of "inosculate" are the only 13 possible spellings to begin with for that word.

The only elements that can be spelled using element symbols are:

Note that the only elements that require the use of repeated element symbols are copper and phosphorus, and that copper, iron, and tin cannot be spelled with their own element symbol.

Explanations

I should note that I am using the ENABLE word list as my source for English words. ENABLE is essentially based on the concept that if you can use it in Scrabble, you can find it in their word list. Plus, you can find words longer than 8-9 letters long. Essentially, ENABLE is based on Merriam Webster's 10th edition and it is the gold-standard of word puzzle makers and solvers everywhere.  It has approximately 173,000 words in it.

Some simple examples of what is (and is not) in ENABLE:  words that must be capitalized, like "Ireland," are not allowed, and neither are acronyms, like "N.R.A.," unless they have come into the vernacular as words, such as "laser." Archaic words, like "thir" (a Middle-English pronoun) are allowed, as are abbreviations that have become full-fledged words in their own right, such as "repo." Those two words, spelled with element symbols, are ThIr and either RePO or RePo, by the way.  Now, there ARE words that are not on the ENABLE word list, though I don't know why:  for instance, "inasmuch" (INaSmUCH) is absent.  To keep the list organized and regulated, though, I decided to keep all of the words in ENABLE in the normal lists, alphabetized; those words not in ENABLE come after the main lists.  If you find any words that are not in the lists (so far I have but two), please let me know!  Also, clearly, as new element names and symbols become official, and as new words are added to the English language, these lists will change.

In addition, people have been having difficulty finding the ENABLE word list online, so I decided to post it here.  I do not know if anyone is keeping the list, but if someone else knows, drop me a line.  In the meantime, as far as I know this is the most updated version of the list (2008ish??):  EnableWordList.txt

If you use this page in your classroom, &c., please reference me! Also, if you like these pages or have anything you think should be added, drop me a line:  nandor@wellington.org

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Dr. Nandor is a mathematics teacher and Upper School Co-Head at The Wellington School.  Here is his home page.