• secretlife said on Jul 25, 2007....

  hmmm....quintessential.....and serendipity...nuance...whisper
  i think it's hard to think of words you think are beautiful and not let the meanings get in the way of your choice.
   
  and i like that mother was #1.

• gingersoul said on Jul 25, 2007....

  Beyond.......i love playing with words...:-)

  One of my all time  favorites are (beside serendipity that has been already chosen by Secret):

  coincidence.....whimsical....murmuring......home.....attraction.......

  ethereal....immense....excruciating....

  I can't believe they picked jazz as one of the ugliest word...

   

• Lioness said on Jul 26, 2007....

  Thanks for that information beyond, I was amused reading it. My most beautiful words are: solitude, tranquility, but i love to pronounce effervescence. c",L

• hotaka said on Jul 26, 2007....

  Oh, this is a great post. I'll have to print this out for my students, if you don't mind. I once heard about "cellar door". It has a lovely French sound to it, doesn't it?

  Did you ever see the Monty Python sketch where one man loves the sound of the word "gone" because he says it has a nice woody sound to it. He doesn't like  "tit" because it sounds too tinny.

  I always liked the sound of "cerulean blue". It has a poetic ring to it.

  One of my favourite words in English is "ice". It suits the subject perfectly because it has a hard vowel sound at the beginning and then glides with a dangerously sibilant "sss". I also like "fractal" because of the ominous yet delicately intricate sound of the word. For me it suggests danger and beauty at the same time.

  I think I like words that combine a feeling of beauty and danger. But "serene" and similar words are soothing and peaceful.

• sweet_cookie01 said on Jul 26, 2007....

  hmm... for me it will be mother, home and love.... it makes me feel warm inside.

• mommyof2 said on Jul 26, 2007....

  I am surprised, never knew there was a big word for
  a cat lover, I like these words: cuddle, baby, love, mommy, ...other half says his favorite is : free, says alot about his brain!!!

• silverwhisper said on Jul 26, 2007....

  that's utterly fascinating--thank you, beyond.
  
  is it weird that i think both cacophany and crunch are actually quite nice words?
  
  i'm fond of a lot of words, myself--perhaps i'm just weird like that--and yet, not a single one of them come to mind. i'm mildly surprised that love came in at 4--i would have expected it to be higher. perhaps the respondents were bitter? :>
  
  ed

• Actorguy said on Jul 26, 2007....

  What a great post!  I am a great lover of words and when I direct and teach Shakespeare, we always spend some time on how words or even certain syllables and sounds can affect you viscerally.  Consider for a moment.
   
  Now entertain conjecture of a time
  When creeping murmur and the pouring dark
  Fills the wide vessel of the universe....
   
  When I first read this passage (from Henry V) to my daughter she was about five.  Even though she didn't know the meaning of most of the words she said "It sounds creepy", and indeed it does!  Somehow the heaviness in the syllables combines to create a sense of dread.  Shakespeare uses this stuff all the time and whether he actually understood it or just instinctively knew it is a question for the ages.
   
  Geez, I could go on for days about this stuff, sorry about that that.  I just think it's cool!

• skald said on Jul 26, 2007....

  Judging these words by the sound and not meaning I find dawn and chattanooga beautiful. 

• mobil said on Jul 26, 2007....

  I had read years ago that cuspidor was considered the most beautiful word in our native tongue. I like Shenandoah , interesting post Beyond

• moonriver said on Jul 26, 2007....

  beyond, for me any word becomes beautiful if it's placed exactly where it generates sparks of thought. but yes, many simple words evoke in me deep feelings of beauty and stark imagery -- maybe because they are markers for my most poignant memories: hearth ... fireplace ... riverbank ... meadow ... dawn ... moonlight ... rainstorm ... dreamscape ... skyland ... orchid ...  bamboo... cobblestone... quay ... gamin... fireworks ... dirtbike ... paddy rice ... hundreds of mostly visual words that haunt my prose and poetry.
  
  

• destinydiva said on Jul 26, 2007....

  eally interesting post beyond :-)
  number 7 ....  yep I agree!!!  ........destiny !!!   :-)
  one of my favourite words too... along with.....
  
  curious......coincidence.......mystery......divine....smile......lush....(don't ya just love how lush... glides off your tongue??) 
  
  other fav's that arn't in dictionary :-) ....... 
  
  • sssshhhwala!!!!!   (yey! I did it! done! etc..)
  • mmmmmmmwah !!!!
  • jamas jamas....  
    
  • uuuh..
  • hmmmmmmmmmmm  :-)
    
  
  Dont think there are any words I don't like.... unless I named ones I don't like based on its meaning...
  
  Destiny ..number7 ...he he ...  :-)
  
  xx
  
  
  
  
  

• beyondtheveil said on Jul 26, 2007....

  secret- It is indeed difficult to separate meanings and that is of course not necessary. I brought that in to show words with beauty can have unpopular meanings and because of it, the beauty escapes us. I like your nuance and whisper best. The word mother surprised me with its standing among non English speakers only.
  
  ginsoul- When you said ethereal it reminded me one of my favorites was surreal. I also like whimsical and murmuring. As far as jazz is concerned, remember that was 1946- I don't know how it would rate now. However, it wouldn't make my list.
  
  lioness- I'm glad you enjoyed this. I found solitude and tranquility to be quite popular. But I'm not quite getting your pronunciation of effervescence. Could you explain that again?
  
  hotaka- I don't mind at all using this for students. There is a lot more information on cellar door at wiki. I find this word an excellent example of beautiful words we miss in everyday language because of their meaning. "cerulean blue"- I like that very much.
  
  sweet- All three very popular words. And you are right in that they make people feel warm inside. I've always loved "home".
  
  mommy2- I didn't know about cat lover either until reading about words. Gee, I wonder why you like the word mommy? Very funny about your husband. I like free too, but I never bragged about my brain, either.
  
  Ed- Thanks, I enjoyed doing this. I'm guessing, but I'll bet they chose cacophony due to the two "k" sounds at the beginning. As to love coming in at four, I don't think they were bitter because these were learners and non English speaking countries. There were a total of 70 words chosen and four to me isn't half bad. But that's just an opinion.
  
  actorguy- Thanks for the compliment. I've been a fairly heavy reader in my life, but the only Shakespeare I've read was Julius Caesar and that was study in high school. The only one I have in my book collection is "As You Like It"  and that  is because its such a beautiful  book. Do you have a Shakespeare selection  to suggest  that might be best for getting a person interested?
  
  skald- Dawn seems to be a popular word. Chattanooga is one of those we don't think about, but if we listen to, the beauty comes through. Interesting selection.
  
  mobil- I had never heard that about cuspidor until this post. By the way, I've liked Shenandoah since the movie. Beautiful word.
  
  moon- I can understand that a writer, especially of poetry it seems, would run across a beauty in words that escape the rest of us in everyday life. Like sweetcookie said, most would be those that evoke warm feelings. Its that way normally with me.
  
  Last night after writing this, I chose two words from the examples. One was pavement and the other, the most difficult, which was gonorrhea. Its challenging to remove meanings and find the beauty, but it can be done. Unfortunately, it is of little use in writing and speech because the emotional meanings are always there. You mentioned several I especially like; hearth, dawn, quay, gamin, and one I had not thought of- bamboo.
  

• beyondtheveil said on Jul 26, 2007....

  destiny- How did I know you would notice destiny? That's cheating! I agree with you about lush, it does roll off the tongue. Your fav's that aren't in the dictionary are ok too except uuuh. When I do that I'm usually showing my ignorance about something.
  

• quietone said on Jul 26, 2007....

  I also like serendipity, banana, finesse, whipoorwill.  very interesting post beyond.

• destinydiva said on Jul 26, 2007....

  uhhhh   uuuhhh   thats more of a moany groany sound for me....  :-)
  like a mini tantrum!! he he ...uhh its not fair ...stomping feet...  kinda uhhhhh :-)
  
  for your meaning I use....errrrr??  :-) or ermmmmmmmm...
  
  Destiny x
  
  

• ninjapirate said on Jul 26, 2007....

  I like this post.  I never thought to much on how words sound before.  Recently I remember thinking this over with my name, my friend from Poland says it a little differently, same with my family who speak spanish, and I think it sounds pretty with different english accents and in spanish.  I remember though in school when we learned the word onomonopia, everybody loved to keep saying it because it was so fun.  I also remember sublime being a word that was fun to say for me.  I always had trouble saying jaguar, you can pronounce it different ways, and it changes how menaceing it sounds to me.  Serene is starting to sound very pretty to me too.  I need to think of more words in this way now, thanks for the idea!   

• beyondtheveil said on Jul 26, 2007....

  quietone- Ah, two more I really like, finesse and whippoorwill. I'd have to sit back and listen to serendipity and banana. There are so many to choose from.
  
  destiny- To me uhhh sounds too much like duh. I can't even spell my moany groany sound. It sounds a little like a pissed off cat.
  
  ninja- I'm happy you liked the post. It has always been interesting to me to listen to the sound of words. I remember one time, out of the blue, the word spoon sounded so stupid to me. A few hours later it sounded perfectly normal. With you being bilingual, I can see how word sounds might affect you differently.
  

• Zayda said on Jul 26, 2007....

  Ohhh...I like the way ailurophile rolls off the tongue.
  
  
  I rather like the word cacophony, myself.
  
  
  Hmmm....so many words to choose from, but some of my favorites:
  
  
  
  • delectable
  • symphonic
  • sarsaparilla
  • libidinous
  • lackadaisical
  • malevolent
  • raspberry
  • salubrious
  • perspicacity
  
  
  I really could go on and on.
  
  
  
  
  

• Lioness said on Jul 27, 2007....

  @beyond, if you notice, when you pronounce effervescence, it's like you are smiling...? Love how the word plays in my lips. c'',L

• silverwhisper said on Jul 27, 2007....

  god, this blog entry is torture for me--i always want to respond with something else, but am afraid to b/c i'm sure someone else will comment w/ another word i like but didn't think of.
  
  ed

• beyondtheveil said on Jul 27, 2007....

  zayda- I thought you might like the cat lover word. My fav's of yours are symphonic, sarsaparilla, and malevolent.
  
  There is also something I've noticed since writing this post. Some of the most endearing words to me such as book, dog, cat, spouse, sex, and even the word heart are not the least bit beautiful to my ears except by meaning only. There are many other one syllable words that are so pleasant like dawn, eve, home, and fawn. This bothers me for some reason.
  
  lioness- Ok, I misunderstood you. It flows wonderfully. Another I wish I'd thought of.
  
  Ed- Honest, I didn't mean to torture you, but I understand. That's what has been happening to me ever since writing this. An hour ago I was shopping at the supermarket finding words that would never have entered my mind. It just doesn't end if you let it capture your thoughts.
  

• silverwhisper said on Jul 27, 2007....

  no big, beyond. it's fun, after all. :>
  
  ed

• gingersoul said on Jul 28, 2007....

  Beyond...and what about:

  extensively

  delicious

  medieval

  serpentine

  embracing

  sailing

  skeptical

  I have to leave out all my Italian words...believe me, there are some so dense and beautiful to fill your mouth completely. 

• beyondtheveil said on Jul 28, 2007....

  ginsoul- Of your new ones I've always liked medieval. And serpentine, how could I forget that? I love that word.
  
  When I was thinking about a few words for this post, I kept coming up with Italian and perhaps Latin words. For instance, I love the sound of the city names in your country- Roma, Napoli, Milano, for three. The names of people are music to me, like painters- Botticelli, da Vinci (which is a town, I believe), Michaelangelo, del Sarto, Fra Angelico, and Masacchio (sp?). It's a beautiful language.
  
  Oh, Donatello and Uffizi. I'd better stop.
  

• silverwhisper said on Jul 29, 2007....

  i have a great fondness for the word prosciutto. or indeed, formaggio... :D
  
  ed

• destinydiva said on Jul 29, 2007....

  picassio!!!  :-)

• beyondtheveil said on Jul 29, 2007....

  Ed- You know, I should have gone ahead and added my Italian words. English is made up of so many foreign words we claim as our own, if we dropped them there might be half a language left. No other language eats up words like English does. Its never been accused of wishing to remain "pure".
  
  destiny- You know what? I actually thought of Picasso, but was leaving out more foreign words and names. Perhaps I shouldn't have done that and made this post more international.
  

• silverwhisper said on Jul 30, 2007....

  you're right, i think we ought to have. i have a certain fondness for the word rendezvous, too, come to think of it. :D
  
  ed

• crawling said on Sep 30, 2009....

  great article
  
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