Aeinst +1 Words

147 AEINST +1 WORDS DARRYL FRANCIS Sutton , Surrey, England HEAL TH WARNING: This article could damage your Scrabble vocabulary According to Official Scrabble Usts (OSL), the most fecund set of six letters, to which a seventh letter can be added then anagrammed to form a valid seven-letter word , is AEINRT. This is closely followed by the AEINST set The US equivalent of OSL is Mike Baron and Jere Guin's The Wordbook, based on The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD). According to The Wordbook, the top three six-letter groups are AEINST, AEIRST and AEINRT. Taking an "average" of the two sources , AEINST is the most fertile set of six letters. To most US Scrabble players, the universe of words extends only to The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD). If they need to confirm a longer word not included in OSPD, then they will check out the Merriam-Webster Tenth Collegiate Dictionary. And to many UK Scrabble players , the universe of words extends only to Official Scrabble Words (OSW) , or maybe to The Chambers Dictionary for longer words. Many countries around the world , though, admit the existence of words in both Official Scrabble Words and The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. (These are the so-called SOWPODS countries--a rearrangement of the letters in OSPD and OSW.) I want to demonstrate that the world of words is much, much broader than the combination of OSW and OSPD. There are many dictionaries beyond these , and they include words which could be valid for Scrabble if you were playing an "open reference sources" game. I decided to mine a number of dictionaries just to see what additional AEINST +1 words could be found . Let's take a quick tour of a few dictionaries. Official Scrabble Words contains a total of 74 different AEI NST+ 1 words: A TAENIAS B BASINET, BESAINT, BESTAIN C CANIEST, CINEAST D DETAINS, INSTEAD, SAINTED ,SATINED, STAINED E ETESIAN F FAINEST, NAIFEST G EASTING , EATINGS, GAINEST, GENISTA, INGATES, INGESTA, SEATING , TANGlES , TEASING I ISATINE Copyright Darryl Francis 2000 148 J JANTIES, T AJINES K INTAKES , KENTIAS , TANKIES L EASTLIN ELASTIN , ENTAILS, SALIENT, SLAI NTE, STANIEL, TENAILS M INMATES, MAINEST, MANTlES, TAMINES NINANEST ATONIES P PANTIES, PATINES, SAPIENT, SPINATE R ANESTRI NASTIER , RATINES, RESIANT, RETAI NS, RETINAS, RETSINA , STAINER, STARNIE, STEARIN S ENTASIS, NASTIES, SESTINA , TANSIES, TI SANES T INSTATE SATINET U AUNTIES , SINUATE V NAIVEST, NATIVES, VAINEST W AWNIEST, TAWNIES, WANIEST, WANTIES Z ZANIEST o - If we now turn to The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD) , a further 10 AEINST + 1 words can be found Brief definitions are shown : A ENTASIA D DESTAIN H SHEITAN H STHENIA L NAILSET L SALTINE M ETAMINS M TAMEINS X SEXTAIN Z ZEATINS spasmodic contraction of a muscle to remove stain from an evil splnt excessive energy a steel rod for driving a nail into something a salted cracker loosely woven fabrics garments worn by Burmese women a stanza of SIX lines chemical compounds found in maize Let's now tum to Webster's Third New International Dictionary (W3). Although this has been In pnnt since 1961, It is still the most authoritative and unabridged of AmerIcan dlctlonanes I ve trawled th rough the pages of W3 and located another 21 AEINST +1 words. (For those who may be familiar with W3, I have excluded words which W3 marks as "usually capitali sed" or "capitalised".) Again , I have included brief definitions in order to make the words more interesting or meaningful. A ANISATE B BANTI ES B BINATES C ACTINES C CASINET D TIENDAS G SIGNATE M ESTAMI M I MEATS M TAIMENS a salt of anisic acid bantams celebrates two masses on the same day star-shaped spicules (as of sponges) lightweight twilled trousering shops or stores having markings like letters worsted twilled fabric inner parts of an animal that are used for food giant trout of northern Asia 149 N ENSAINT N STANINE OASIENTO R ANTSIER R NERITAS R RESTAIN R TANIERS S SATINES T STEATIN V NATIVES X TAXINES to make a saint of an aptitude score for aviation students a contract for furnishing slaves more impatient molluscs to stain again any of several plants having edible roots smooth durable fabrics an ointment certain minerals bitter poisonous alkaloids The predecessor of W3 was Webster's New International Dictionary (Second Edition) . This was published between 1934 and 1961, and is still regarded as perhaps the greatest unabridged American dictionary. This contains many words which for various reasons didn't make it into W3. Again , I've excluded proper names. Brief definitions are included here. This time, another eleven AEINST +1 words have been found : B BETAINS BINBEATS G GAINSET G TINAGES L LANITES M STAMINE AEONIST P PEISANT P PlANETS R ASTERIN R ERANIST o crystalline sweet-tasting alkaloids drives in by beating to oppose large porous water-jugs various Philippines trees a coarse woollen cloth one who holds the eternal duration of the world weighty . magpies a pigment of the China aster a member of a club Onwards and upwards! The magnificent Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition , 1992)(OED) is a record of the English language up until just a few years ago. It is a rich source of obsolete spellings. Examination of the OED reveals another 31 AEINST+1 words. As well as giving definitions, I have marked obsolete words , just in case anyone wishes to discard them. (But why? The Chambers Dictionary and OSW contain many thousands of obsolete wordS .) B BETANIS G ATEIGNS G GAITENS G GNAISTE G GNASTIE G STIGEAN G TEAINGS H SHANTIE H THAINES betonies, plants (obs) attains (obs) gaits to gnash (obs) nasty (obs) supremely binding tea-meetings a cabin thanes (obs) 150 L ALiENTS L ATELINS M MANIEST NINNATES N SINNATE N TANNIES o INOSATE P PASTINE RESTRAIN R RANITES R SARIENT R SERIANT R SERTAIN R STRAINE R TIRANES R TRAINES S STAINES T NATIIES U ASTIUNE U TAUNIES U UANITES V VANITES aitens (obs) yetlings, cast-Iron pots (obs) superlative of 'many' makes innate sinnet, a kind of cordage (obs) tawntes (obs) a salt of inosic acid ground prepared for planting to bind tightly greYish-black minerals sergeant (obs) sergeant (obs) certain (obs) strain (obs) tyrants (obs) trains (obs) stains (obs) natty persons a kind of precIous stone tawnles (obs) vantties (obs) vanities (obs) - And Just to flntsh with, I checked the pages of Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary Just one further AEINST +1 specimen came to light: o SEDATIN a white crystalline compound All told , that makes 148 AEINST + 1 words, exactly twice the number allowed by OSW' I could go on to examine increasingly obscure dictionaries, especially dialect dlctlonanes. but I had to draw the line somewhere. As I said at the start of thIs article, It could damage your Scrabble vocabularyl I am not proposing that the Scrabble world starts to use references beyond OSW and OS PO but I would like Scrabble players to recognise that the universe of words does not stop at Just the (...truncated)