Ten (more) Fours

...that I didn't know

LOUP to leap (takes an E too, don't think I knew this was good.)
AMYL a univalent radical (gotta love those univalent radicals. Also ACYL, ARYL. I smell a 'univalent radical of the month' feature.)
BRIN a rib of a fan (back hooks EGKSY. I always think this is BIRN*)
AMUS a unit of mass, plural (I knew this, but it takes an R or W in front, and don't forget the back E!)
MUMP to beg (I didn't know this was a verb, and would've possibly challenged thinking it could only be plural)
SOLI plural of SOLO (I think I prefer SOLOS)
RAGG a wool fiber (add to the 'words you didn't know could have a doubled ending consonant' list)
ODIC pertaining to an ode (did I know this at some point? probably. I definitely know OTIC and ETIC. But I definitely didn't know  IODIC and SODIC.)
PIMA a strong, high-grade cotton (apparently I'm ignorant of fabric-related words.)

Ten Fours

Still slowly going through the fours- here are the first ten that popped up that I either didn't know at all, or wasn't sure of:

PISO the Philippine peso (also POIS)

MUGG to make funny faces (knew MIGG, not this one)

UNDE wavy (an adjective, doesn't take an S- also DUNE, NUDE)

DORP a village (DROP, PROD. this one doesn't even look familiar)

BUTE a drug for treating arthritis (back hook of O, also TUBE)

SIDH a hill inhabited by supernatural beings in Irish folklore (sounds like an M. Night Shyamalan movie. takes an E, not an S, also DISH)

SKAT a card game (can't believe I didn't know KAT took a front S hook. also- KATS, TASK)

POME a fleshy fruit with a core (what, an abbreviation for pomegranate? ok. also, MOPE, POEM)

CYME a flower cluster (think I knew this but haven't seen it in a long time)

MONY many (adjective, no S)

 

 

Words used to describe a heraldic cross...

A very important set of words to study if you're a scrabble player, right up there with paper sizes, tropical shrubs, and hmm, what other categories am I missing? None of the words listed take an S as they are all adjectives. 

AVELLAN having the four arms shaped like filberts (knew this one for some reason)

BOTONEE/ BOTONNEE having arms ending in a trefoil (this looks familiar, but I may be thinking of GOBONEE)

FITCHY having the arms ending in a point (didn't know this one, but it's a fun six, like the others)

FLEURY having the arms terminating in three leaves (like above, I think. knew this because it's a local lumberyard name here)

FORMEE having the arms narrow at the center and expanding towards the ends (keep reading, I'm going to list some other cool -MEE words)

FOURCHEE having the end of each arm forked (learned this long ago, before some top 1000 7 letter words. go figure.)

MOLINE having arms forked and curved at the ends (with an S you have LOMEINS)

POMMEE having arms with knoblike ends (other -MEE words: RAMEE, MAMMEE, and....LARYNGECTOMEE???)

 

Words are fun.

I'm getting a kick out of learning words lately-- even though half the time I don't even know what they mean! As many of you know, there's a common method of study in competitive scrabble which generally involves going through words by probability or length- a method which I've mostly ignored. Of course, I learned the two letter words first, and the Q without U words, and the TISANE + blank bingos, but after that I pretty much have picked up words randomly. These days, I add new words to my study list one of the following ways:

1. I'm going through all the four letter words- any I don't know, I add.

2. Any interesting fives that are made from adding a hook to a four from above.

3. Any bingo (or 5 or 6 letter word) I find I've missed after reviewing a game, regardless of its probability. 

4. Fun, though mostly useless extensions that I find myself wondering about after a particular play in a game.

5. Any other random word that catches my eye for any reason (i.e. strange letter distribution)

So here's a few words I've added recently:

MUSTH a state of frenzy occuring in male elephants (interesting hook for MUST)

CATHOLICON a universal remedy, REQUIESCAT a prayer for the dead (file under 'useless extensions')

BENZOYL a univalent chemical radical (just caught my eye, I mean, hey, it has a Z in it)

MINIMILL a small scale steel mill (was looking up extensions for MILL, and look at all those I's!)

VALVAL, VALVAR pertaining to a valve (missed in a game, nice double V words.)