List Of English Words Without Rhymes

The following is a list of English words without rhymes, called refractory rhymes—that is, a list of words in the English language that rhyme with no other English word. The word "rhyme" here is used in the strict sense, called a ''perfect rhyme'', that the words are pronounced the same from the vowel of the main stressed syllable onwards. The list was compiled from the point of view of Received Pronunciation (with a few exceptions for General American), and may not work for other accents or dialects. Multiple-word rhymes (a phrase that rhymes with a word, known as a ''phrasal'' or ''mosaic'' rhyme), self-rhymes (adding a prefix to a word and counting it as a rhyme of itself), imperfect rhymes (such as ''purple'' with ''circle''), and identical rhymes (words that are identical in their stressed syllables, such as ''bay'' and ''obey'') are often not counted as true rhymes and have not been considered. Only the list of one-syllable words can hope to be anything near complete; for polysyllabic words, rhymes are the exception rather than the rule.

Definition of ''perfect rhyme''

Following the strict definition of rhyme, a perfect rhyme demands the exact match of all sounds from the last stressed vowel to the end of the word. Therefore, words with the stress far from the end are more likely to have no perfect rhymes. For instance, a perfect rhyme for ''discomBOBulate'' would have to rhyme three syllables, ''-OBulate.'' There are many words that match most of the sounds from the stressed vowel onwards and so are near rhymes, called slant rhymes. ''Ovulate'', ''copulate'', and ''populate'', for example, vary only slightly in one consonant from ''discombobulate'', and thus provide very usable rhymes for most situations in which a rhyme for ''discombobulate'' is desired. However, no other English word has exactly these three final syllables with this stress pattern. And since in most traditions the stressed syllable should not be identical—the consonant before the stressed vowel should be different—adding a prefix to a word, as ''be-elbow'' for ''elbow'', does not create a perfect rhyme for it.

Words that rhyme in one accent or dialect may not rhyme in another. A commonplace example of this is the word ''of'' , which when stressed had no rhymes in British Received Pronunciation prior to the 19th century, but which rhymed with ''grave'' and ''mauve'' in some varieties of General American. In the other direction, ''iron'' has no rhyme in General American, but many in RP. Words may also have more than one pronunciation, one with a rhyme, and one without.

Words with obscure perfect rhymes

This list includes rhymes of words that have been listed as rhymeless.

*''aitch'' rhymes with dialectal '' nache'' (the bony point on the rump of an ox or cow), '' Rach'', a hypocoristic for the name Rachel, one pronunciation of obsolete ''rache'' (a streak down a horse's face), and the surname of Anne Heche.
* ''angst'' rhymes with ''manxed'' and '' wangst'', self-indulgent self-pity (a portmanteau of ''wank'' and ''angst''); ''phalanxed'' is not a perfect rhyme because the stress is on the wrong syllable. The alternative American pronunciation has no rhymes.
* '' arugula'' rhymes with '' Bugula'', a genus of bryozoan, in American English.
* ''beige'' rhymes with '' greige'', a colour between grey and beige.
* '' blitzed'' rhymes with '' spritzed'', from '' spritz'', to squirt with water or mist.
* '' boing, -s'' rhymes with '' doing'' (etymology 2), the sound made by an elastic object when struck by or striking a hard object, and '' toing''/'' toings'', the sound of a metallic vibration.
* '' bombed'' rhymes with '' glommed'', American slang for 'attached'.
* '' cairn'' rhymes with '' bairn'', a Northern English and Scottish word meaning child.
* ''chaos'' rhymes with '' naos'', the inner chamber of a temple.
* ''chocolate'' rhymes with ''auklet'', any of the smaller species of auks, in General American, in which the vowel in the accented syllable is pronounced /ɑ/ in both words.
* ''circle'' rhymes with '' hurkle'', to pull in all one's limbs; '' novercal'', like a stepmother; ''squircle'', a geometric shape resembling a square with rounded edges (e.g., Lamé's special quartic); ''opercle'', an opercular bone; and the surnames of Angela Merkel (as pronounced in English), Studs Terkel, and Steve Urkel.
* ''circus'' rhymes with ''murcous'', having cut off one's thumb; and ''Quercus'', a genus of oak.
* '' cleansed'' rhymes with ''lensed'', "provided with a lens or lenses".
* ''coif'' rhymes with '' boyf'', slang for "boyfriend".
* ''cusp'' rhymes with '' '', an acronym for "dual-specificity phosphatase enzyme".
* '' doth'' rhymes with ''Cuth'', a hypocoristic for the name Cuthbert, as in "Cuth's Day" at St. Cuthbert's Society.
* '' else'' rhymes with ''wels'', the fish ''Silurus glanis''; and '' Chels'', a hypocoristic for the name Chelsea.
* ''eth'' rhymes with Castilian Spanish ''merced'', 'gift', which is occasionally used in English.
* '' fiends'' rhymes with '' teinds'', Scottish word for the portion of an estate assessed for the stipend of the clergy, and archaic Scottish '' piends''.
* '' film, -s'' rhymes with '' pilm'', Scottish word for dust. The plural ''films'' rhymes with '' Wilms'', a German surname and a kidney tumor
* ''flange'' rhymes with ''Ange'', a hypocoristic for the name Angela.
* '' fourths'' rhymes with ''North's'', belonging to someone named North (such as Oliver North or Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's daughter North West)''.
* '' fugue, -s'' rhymes with ''jougs,'' which is rarely found in the singular; one pronunciation of '' Moog,'' the synthesizer brand name; Droog, the sister catalogue to Delia*s for boys; '' zhoug,'' a green Yemeni sauce; ''doogh,'' a savory Persian yogurt drink; '' cheug,'' a slang term for a person who has an outdated idea of what is trendy; ''the boog,'' short for the boogaloo movement; and Zoog Disney. The plural rhymes with the name of Zoogz Rift.
* ''grilse'' rhymes with '' fils'' (etymology 2), a hundredth or thousandth of the monetary units of many Arab countries.
* ''gulf, -s'' rhymes with '' '' (pl. ''Sulfs''), any of a number of sulfate-regulating enzymes.
* ''kiln, -s'', if pronounced , rhymes with the surname '' Milne''. The plural rhymes with ''Milne's'', belonging to someone with the surname ''Milne''.
* '' loge'' rhymes with the English pronunciation of '' Limoges'', a city in France, and a kind of porcelain.
* '' midst'' rhymes with '' didst'', the archaic second-person singular for did (used with ''thou'').
* '' month'' rhymes with '' oneth'', a mathematical term; also '' en-plus-oneth'' (''n'' + 1)th and '' hundred-and-oneth'' (= hundred-and-first). This also appears in fractions and so takes the plural, as in ''twenty thirty- oneths''.
* ''music'' rhymes with '' anchusic'', as in ''anchusic acid''; '' dysgeusic'', having a disorder that causes alterations in one's sense of taste; '' ageusic'', lacking a sense of taste; and ''sheltopusik'', a lizard of Europe and Central Asia.
* ''neutron'' , in American English, rhymes with Lutron, an electronics company based in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania.
* ''ninja, -s'' rhymes with ''Rohingya'', a minority group in Myanmar, and '' Shinja'', a Christian who practices martial arts (in rhotic accents such as General American; in non-rhotic accents such as RP, these words also rhyme with ''ginger, injure'', etc.).
* '' oblige'' rhymes with '' Nige'', a hypocoristic for the name Nigel.
* '' oink, -s'' rhymes with '' yoink''/'' yoinks'', a colloquial interjection expressing the stealing or sudden acquisition of something; '' boink''/'' boinks'', a slang word meaning "to have sex with"; and Spoink, a Pokémon species introduced in Generation III.
* ''opus'' (with a short ''0)'', , rhymes with ''Hoppus'', a method of measuring timber and surname of Mark Hoppus, lead singer of Blink-182; and, in American English, one pronunciation of ''tapas'', Mexican finger food.
* ''orange'' , rhymes with "door hinge" in certain accents and '' Blorenge'', a hill in Wales. Webster's Third gives two pronunciations for '' sporange'', one of which rhymes. However, one is a spelling pronunciation based on ''orange'', and the OED only has the non-rhyming pronunciation, with the stress on the ''ange'' : . The American pronunciation of ''orange'' with one syllable has no rhyme, even in non-rhotic accents.
* ''pint'' rhymes with '' rynt'', a word milkmaids use to get a cow to move.
* '' plagued'' rhymes with '' vagued'', meaning "wandered/roamed" or "became vague/acted vaguely".
* ''plankton'' rhymes with ''Yankton'', a member of a western branch of the Dakota people and several American place names named after the people.
* ''plinth'' rhymes with ''synth'', colloquial for '' synthesizer''.
* ''poem'' , in American English, rhymes with the Hebrew names ''Noam'', ''Jeroboam'' and '' Rehoboam''; '' no'm'', a dialectal contraction for "no, ma'am"; or with ''phloem'' (/ˈfləʊ.əm/) ''(pronunciations vary)''.
* ''poet'' rhymes with '' coit'', to have sex.
* ''purple'' rhymes with '' curple'', the hindquarters of a horse or donkey, '' hirple'', to walk with a limp,'' nurple'', the act of roughly twisting a nipple (slang).
* ''quaich'' rhymes with '' scraich/ scraigh'', Scots for "to screech", and one pronunciation of '' abeigh'', a rare Scottish word meaning "cautiously aloof".
* ''rhythm'' rhymes with ''smitham'', fine malt or ore dust.
* '' rouged'' rhymes with '' luged'', having ridden on a luge.
* ''silver'' rhymes with '' chilver'', a female lamb.
* ''siren'' rhymes with ''gyron'', a type of triangle in heraldry; ''environ'', meaning to encircle or surround; the given names ''Byron'' and ''Myron''; and ''apeiron'', meaning infinity.
* ''soldier'' rhymes with the surnames '' Bolger'' and '' Folger''
* '' sylph'' rhymes with '' MILF/milf'', vulgar slang; and ''Wilf'', a hypocorism for the name Wilfred.
* '' thesp'' rhymes with '' hesp'', a measure of two hanks of linen thread in Scotland; and Cresp, a French surname.
* ''toilet'' rhymes with '' oillet'', an eyelet.
* '' torsk'' rhymes with '' Norsk'', a rural locality in Russia
* ''tufts'' rhymes with '' scufts'', the third-person singular form of the dialectal verb ''scuft''.
* '' waltzed'' rhymes with ''schmaltzed'', as in "schmaltzed up" (see ''schmaltz'').
* ''wasp'' rhymes with ''knosp'', "an ornament in the form of a bud or knob".
* ''wharves'' rhymes with '' dwarves'', the variant of ''dwarfs'' usually used in fantasy of the Tolkienian model.
* ''width'' rhymes with obsolete '' sidth'', meaning length.
* ''woman'' rhymes with '' toman (some pronunciations)'', a Persian coin and military division.
* ''yttrium'' rhymes with '' liberum arbitrium'', a legal term.

Non-rhyming English words

The majority of words with antepenultimate stress, such as ''ambulance'', ''citizen, dangerous'' and ''obvious'', and with preantepenultimate stress, such as ''(un)necessary, logarithm, algorithm'' and ''sacrificing'', have no rhyme.

Masculine rhymes

Refractory one-syllable rhymes are uncommon; there may be fewer than a hundred in English. A great many end in a present or historical suffix '' -th'', or are plural or participle forms. This list includes a few polysyllabic masculine rhymes such as ''obliged'', which have one syllable in their rhyming part.

# '' adzed''
# '' airt'' (rhymes with the Scots pronunciations of a number of other words, e.g. "pairt", a Scots variant of "part")
# '' alb'' /-ælb/ (rhymes with some pronunciations of the proper noun "Kalb" in the name of Johann de Kalb)
# ''amongst'' /-ʌŋst/ (" quincunxed" could qualify as a rhyme if its second syllable is given secondary stress and if secondary stress is considered sufficient for a perfect rhyme)
# '' angsts''
# ''bilge''
# '' boinged''
# ''borscht'' (could rhyme with a dialectal North American pronunciation of "washed" as "worshed/warshed")
# ''borshch'' /- ɔrʃtʃ/ (pronunciation variant of the above)
# '' breadth, -s''
# '' bronzed''
# '' bulb, -s, -ed''
# '' calced'' (may rhyme with "valsed" in British English, according to the Oxford English Dictionary)
# '' combs'' (combinations)
# '' coolth''
# '' corpsed''
# '' culm''
# '' delft''
# '' depth, -s''
# '' dreamt'' (sometimes pronounced , causing "dreamt" to rhyme with exempt, tempt, etc.)
# '' dumbth''
# '' eighth, -s''
# '' excerpts'' (verb)
# '' false''
# '' fifth, -ed, -s''
# '' filmed'' The plural ''films'' rhymes with ''Wilms'', a German surname, and a kidney tumor.
# '' glimpsed''
# '' goonch''
# '' gouge(d)''
# '' (en)gulfed''
# ''kilned'' (but not when pronounced as )
# ''kirsch''
# '' midsts''
# '' mulcts''
# '' ninth, -s''
# '' obliged''
# '' obvs''
# '' oomph''
# ''pierced''
# '' prompts'' or
# ''scarce''
# '' sculpts''
# '' sixth, -s''
# '' sowthed, southed''
# '' spoilt''
# '' stilb''
# '' swoln''
# '' traipsed''
# '' twelfth, -s'' The "f" in "twelfth" is commonly elided in casual speech, causing "twelfth" to rhyme with "health" and "wealth".
# '' unbeknownst''
# '' vuln, -ed, -s''
# '' warmth''
# '' whilst''
# '' with'' (the word is also pronounced with , in which case it has rhymes like "pith")
# ''wolf, -ed, -s''
# ''wolve, -d, -s''
# '' worlds''
# ''wounds''
# '' yoicks'', ''joik, -s''

''pork'' and '' forge'' have no rhymes in conservative RP. However, the distinction between ''horse'' and ''hoarse'' has been mostly lost in younger generations, and for them and many others ''pork'' which was an exception to the normal rule, now rhymes with ''fork'' and ''cork'' (), while ''forge'' now rhymes with ''gorge''. The OED no longer lists as an alternative pronunciation in its third edition.

Nonce words ending in ''-ed'' ('provided with') may produce other potentially refractory masculine rhymes. There are additional words which are only partially assimilated into English, such as Russian '' kovsh'' , which are refractory rhymes.

The contraction '' daren't'' has no known rhymes in any English dialect, however the legitimacy of contractions as a single word is disputed. Regardless of this, ''daren't'' lacks both perfect rhymes and phrasal rhymes.

Although not meant as a complete list, there are some additional refractory rhymes in GA. Some of these are due to RP being a non-rhotic accent, and having merged rhymes formerly distinguished by .
# '' heighth, -s''
# ''iron''
# '' karsts''

Feminine rhymes

For feminine rhymes, the final two syllables must match to count as a rhyme. Once the stress shifts to the penultimate syllable, rhymeless words are quite common, perhaps even the norm: there may be more rhymeless words than words with rhymes. The following words are representative, but there are thousands of others.

# ''angel''
# '' angry''
# '' anxious''
# '' chimney''
# ''comment''
# ''elbow''
# ''empty''
# ''engine''
# ''foible''
# ''foyer''
# '' hundred(th)''
# '' husband''
# '' liquid''
# ''luggage''
# '' monster''
# ''nothing''
# '' olive''
# '' penguin''
# '' polka''
# '' problem''
# ''sanction''
# ''sandwich''
# ''secret''
# ''something'' Though of course ''something'' rhymes with phrases such as ''this dumb thing.''
# ''zigzag''

See also

* List of closed pairs of English rhyming words

Notes

External links

Slant rhymes for words without perfect rhymes

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