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        riddles >> hard >> Consonyms
        
(Message started by: Barukh on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 2:42am)

Title: Consonyms
Post by Barukh on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 2:42am

Define consonym to be a word that has the same consonants as another word, in any order^*. For instance, “limbo” and “mobile” are consonyms.

Here’s the problem: find a triple of consonants that “produce” the maximum number of consonyms.

The rules for the solution are as follows:

1. “Y” is considered a vowel.
2. No plural nouns.
3. Verbs are allowed only in infinitive form.
4. No personal names, names of places etc. are allowed.
5. Every consonant must be used once and only once.

I don’t know the answer to this problem, or how difficult is it. Neither do I know if it’s original. I hope you will find it interesting, though.

^* There is a different definition of this on the Web.

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by FiBsTeR on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 6:01am

Must a word use the same number of consonants as its consonyms?

Well seeing as [hide]T, N, R[/hide] are some of the most common consonants in the English language, maybe these are it, although my vocabulary isn't very large. I'm just writing whatever comes to mind, in no particular order, and they are, of course, not the only consonyms of the letters above:

[hide]runt, torn, turn, nurture, rant, torrent, rent[/hide]

I don't know how one would go about finding the "maximum", unless you had a way to search the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) for consonyms with a computer.

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by pex on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 6:19am

on 10/03/07 at 06:01:13, FiBsTeR wrote:

Adding to FiBsTeR's list (just from the top of my head):

Using each consonant once: [hide]toner, entry, intro, train, enter, retina, routine, inertia, entire[/hide]

Using some consonants multiple times: [hide]terrain[/hide]

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by FiBsTeR on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 6:27am

Or even:

[hide]nature, neuter, turner (one who turns?), and ranter, renter, trainer, [and really, if allowing multiple uses of n,t,r, many infinitive verbs using n,t,r can be made nouns adding -er][/hide]

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by pex on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 6:33am

on 10/03/07 at 06:27:53, FiBsTeR wrote:

[hide]really, if allowing multiple uses of n,t,r, many infinitive verbs using n,t,r can be made nouns adding -er[/hide]

Like [hide]entertainer[/hide], using all consonants twice...

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by towr on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 6:34am

A dictionary search gives 313; although I still have to weed out some things that don't really seem words.

[edit]
Good grief what a load of crap in that dictionary. I only recognize 52 50 words on the list.

Aaronite
aeration
aeronaut
aren't
atoner
enter
entree
entry
inaurate
inert
inertia
intro
natura

nature
neater
neuter
nitro
notary
notoire
oration
orient
outearn
~~outran~~
outrun
rainout
rant

ration
rent
retain
retinue
reunite
rotan
routine
ruinate
runout
runt
tenor
toner
~~torn~~

tourney
train
trainee
tRNA
tuner
turn
unitary
uniter
unroot
untire
untrue
urinate
yantra

[/edit]

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by Barukh on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 6:46am

I was afraid the problem statement won't be precise!

on 10/03/07 at 06:01:13, FiBsTeR wrote:

Must a word use the same number of consonants as its consonyms?

Not only that, every consonant must be used once and only once.

Quote:

torn

Isn't this the third form of the verb "tear"? As such, it's not allowed by the rule #3.

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by FiBsTeR on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 7:20am

"to tear" is the infinitive form of the verb, "tear" is the present first person, "tore" is the past, and "torn" is the adjective, as in "That piece of paper is torn."

on 10/03/07 at 06:34:00, towr wrote:

A dictionary search gives 313; although I still have to weed out some things that don't really seem words.

How did you search a dictionary? Or did you mean you manually searched?

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by towr on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 7:31am

on 10/03/07 at 07:20:05, FiBsTeR wrote:

How did you search a dictionary?

I grepped a computer dictionary.

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by rmsgrey on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 11:53am

What? No tureen?

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by towr on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 11:56am

on 10/03/07 at 11:53:40, rmsgrey wrote:

What? No tureen?

Possibly, but I have no idea what it is.

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by Barukh on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 11:59am

Nice! ::)

What about other combinations? For instance: S, P, T?

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by rmsgrey on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 12:10pm

on 10/03/07 at 11:56:02, towr wrote:

Possibly, but I have no idea what it is.

From www.dictionary.com: "a large, deep, covered dish for serving soup, stew, or other foods."

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by towr on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 12:34pm

on 10/03/07 at 11:59:46, Barukh wrote:

What about other combinations? For instance: S, P, T?

From among 160 the following 35 seem ok to me.

autopsy
eyespot
isotope
isotype
outspy
past
pasta
paste
pastie

patsy
peseta
pest
pesto
piteous
posit
post
setup
situp

spat
spate
spit
spite
spot
spout
steep
step
stoop

stop
stupa
tapas
tipsy
tops
topsy
upset
upstay

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by FiBsTeR on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 2:25pm

on 10/03/07 at 06:46:03, Barukh wrote:

Not only that, every consonant must be used once and only once.

So words such as "tooth" have no consonyms, by your definition, since the consonant "t" is used twice?

Title: Re: Consonyms
Post by Obob on Oct 3^rd, 2007, 8:09pm

Two words are consonyms if they use the same consonants, and those consonants appear the same number of times in each word. So "tooth" and "teeth" are consonyms, but "tooth" and "the" are not. I suppose you could look for triples with repeated consonants as well, (such as T T H), but I would be very surprised if a triple with repeated consonants generates the most consonyms.