Wednesday Words (15)

Each Wednesday I present to you a loveable word and what it means. These are words that look or sound pleasing. This week I have a list of words for you!

When asking people to nominate their favourite words, I noticed that while there was a huge variety of words, some characteristics came up over and again. In particular I noticed that I was offered a lot of words with an i-consonant-l sound to them – e.g. words ending in –ickle, -ible, -iffle etc.

Here were some of the words suggested:

Pickle (Ruth McConnell) – fruit or vegetables preserved in either vinegar or brine, or an informal word for a tricky situation (or child creating tricky situations!)

Pumpernickel (Catherine Edwards) – bread made for wholemeal rye, associated with Germany (and disgusting in my opinion!)

Riffle (Caroline Everall) – to turn something over quickly and casually (I believe it is also a particular method of shuffling cards)

Giggle (Caroline Cook) – a light, delighted or silly laugh, often associated with children.

Dirigible (Steph Wetherell) – see the post I did on this a few weeks ago!

I’m not sure what it is about this sound that we love, but I suspect it is the fact that it is just a little bit silly. It’s the sort of noise you might make at a baby to make them laugh. What are your favourite –ibble/-ickle/-iggle (etc.) words?