A heterogram (from ''hetero-'', meaning 'different', + ''-gram'', meaning 'written') is a word, phrase, or sentence in which no letter of the alphabet occurs more than once. The terms isogram and nonpattern word have also been used to mean the same thing. It is not clear who coined or popularized the term "heterogram". The concept appears in

Dmitri Borgmann Dmitri Alfred Borgmann (October 22, 1927 – December 7, 1985) was a German-American author best known for his work in recreational linguistics. Early life Borgmann was born on October 22, 1927, in Berlin, Germany, to Hans and Lisa Borgmann. Fe ...

's 1965 book '' Language on Vacation: An Olio of Orthographical Oddities'' but he uses the term ''isogram''. In a 1985 article, Borgmann claims to have "launched" the term ''isogram'' then. He also suggests an alternative term, asogram, to avoid confusion with lines of constant value such as

contour line A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a plane section of the three-dimensional gr ...

s, but uses ''isogram'' in the article itself. ''Isogram'' has also been used to mean a string where each letter present is used the same number of times. Multiple terms have been used to describe words where each letter used appears a certain number of times. For example, a word where every featured letter appears twice, like "appeases", might be called a ''pair isogram'', a ''second-order isogram'', or a ''2-isogram''. A perfect

pangram A pangram or holoalphabetic sentence is a sentence using every letter of a given alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and keyboarding. Origins The ...

is an example of a heterogram, with the added restriction that it uses all the letters of the alphabet.

Uses in ciphers

Heterograms can be useful as keys in

ciphers In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...

, since heterogram sequences of the same length make for simple one-to-one mapping between the symbols. Ten-letter heterograms like PATHFINDER, DUMBWAITER, and BLACKHORSE are commonly used by salespeople of products where the retail price is typically negotiated, such as used cars, jewelry, or antiques. For example, using the PATHFINDER cipher, P represents 1, A represents 2 and so on. The price tag for an item selling for $1200 may also bear the cryptic letters FRR, written on the back or bottom of the tag. A salesman familiar with the PATHFINDER cipher will know that the original cost of the item was $500, so that if the price is negotiated he will not accidentally eliminate all of the 140% margin in the $1200 price shown to prospective buyers. A twelve-letter cipher could be used to indicate months of the year.

Longest examples

In the book '' Language on Vacation: An Olio of Orthographical Oddities'',

tries to find the longest such word. The longest one he found was "

dermatoglyphics Dermatoglyphics (from Ancient Greek ''derma'', "skin", and ''glyph'', "carving") is the scientific study of fingerprints, lines, mounts and shapes of hands, as distinct from the superficially similar pseudoscience of palmistry. Dermatoglyphics a ...

" at 15 letters. He coins several longer hypothetical words, such as "thumbscrew-japingly" (18 letters, defined as "as if mocking a thumbscrew") and, with the "uttermost limit in the way of verbal creativeness", "pubvexingfjord-schmaltzy" (23 letters, defined as "as if in the manner of the extreme sentimentalism generated in some individuals by the sight of a majestic

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...

, which sentimentalism is annoying to the clientele of an English inn"). In the book ''Making the Alphabet Dance'', Ross Eckler reports the word "subdermatoglyphic" (17 letters) can be found in an article by Lowell Goldsmith called ''Chaos: To See a World in a Grain of Sand and a Heaven in a Wild Flower''. He also found the name "Melvin Schwarzkopf" (17 letters), a man living in

Alton, Illinois Alton ( ) is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 25,676 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is a p ...

, and proposed the name "Emily Jung Schwartzkopf" (21 letters). In an elaborate story, Eckler talked about a group of scientists who name the unavoidable urge to speak in

pangrams A pangram or holoalphabetic sentence is a sentence using every letter of a given alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and keyboarding. Origins The ...

the "Hjelmqvist-Gryb-Zock-Pfund-Wax syndrome". The longest German heterogram is "Heizölrückstoßabdämpfung" (heating oil recoil dampening) which uses 24 of the 30 letters in the

German alphabet German orthography is the orthography used in writing the German language, which is largely phonemic. However, it shows many instances of spellings that are historic or analogous to other spellings rather than phonemic. The pronunciation of alm ...

, as ''ä'', ''ö'', ''ü'', and ''ß'' are considered distinct letters from ''a'', ''o'', ''u'', and ''s'' in German. It is closely followed by "Boxkampfjuryschützlinge" (boxing-match jury protégés) and "Zwölftonmusikbücherjagd" (twelve-tone music book chase) with 23 letters.

Other examples

Words

17 letters

* subdermatoglyphic

16 letters

*uncopyrightables

15 letters

*dermatoglyphics *hydropneumatics *misconjugatedly *uncopyrightable

14 letters

*ambidextrously *computerizably *croquet-playing *dermatoglyphic *hydromagnetics *hydropneumatic *pseudomythical *subformatively *troublemakings *undiscoverably

13 letters

*consumptively *copyrightable *documentarily *draughtswomen *endolymphatic *flamethrowing *flowchartings *hydromagnetic *lycanthropies *metalworkings *misconjugated *motherfucking *multibranched *overadjusting *subordinately *troublemaking *uncombatively *uncopyrighted *unmaledictory *unpredictably *unproblematic *unsympathized

12 letters

*adsorptively *ambidextrous *amblygonites *amylopectins *bankruptcies *blastodermic *bluestocking *cabinetworks *centrifugals *computerniks *configurated *considerably *counterplays *countervails *customizable *demographics *demonstrably *descrambling *discountable *discrepantly *disreputably *doublethinks *drumbeatings *earthmovings *edulcorating *euchromatins *exclusionary *exculpations *expurgations *exhaustingly *farsightedly *flexographic *flowcharting *Francophiles *gourmandizes *granulocytes *hematoxylins *housewarming *hydromancies *hypnotizable *hyponatremic *imponderably *incomputable *incomputably *kymographies *lexicography *Lubavitchers *lycanthropes *malnourished *mendaciously *metalworking *multipronged *neurotypical *nightwalkers *outpreaching *outscreaming *outsparkling *outspreading *overhaulings *overmatching *overstudying *overwatching *packinghouse *patchworking *pelargoniums *phagocytized *phagocytizes *phytoalexins *polycentrism *preadjusting *postcardlike *problematics *productively *questionably *recognizably *ropewalkings *stakeholding *stenographic *stickhandler *subnormality *subvocalized *thunderclaps *unforgivable *unforgivably *unglamorized *unhysterical *unprofitable *unprofitably *upholstering *voluntaryism *xylographies There are hundreds of eleven-letter isograms, over one thousand ten-letter isograms and thousands of such nine-letter words.

Phrases and sentences

* ''Cwm fjord bank glyphs vext quiz.'' (26, perfect

) * ''Blocky dwarf zings the jump.'' (A. Maag) (23) * ''Nymphs beg for quick waltz.'' (Angus Walker) (22) * ''The big dwarf only jumps.'' (Alain Brobecker) (20)

In French

* ''Le bon Giscard!'' (Alain Brobecker) (12) * ''Lampez un fort whisky!'' (Alain Brobecker) (18) * ''Plombez vingt fuyards!'' (Alain Brobecker) (19)

In German

* ''"Fix, Schwyz!", quäkt Jürgen blöd vom Paß.'' (30) * ''Malitzschkendorf'' (16): German city

In Danish

* ''Høj bly gom vandt fræk sexquiz på wc.'' (29, perfect pangram)

In Portuguese

* ''Velho traduz, sim!'' (14)

In Spanish

*''Centrifugadlos'' (14, longest heterogramatic word in Spanish)

References

External links

* {{citation , url = http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Renaming+the+Schwar%28t%29zkopf+baby.-a0113563369 , title = Renaming the Schwar(t)zkopf baby. , author = Eric Chaikin , date = 1 February 2004 , work = Word Ways , access-date = 2010-09-30 Word games Word play