Words ending in "ough"

[camion]

Slough.

I saw it in the Eye Vigil thread and it triggered something. I have a pet theory that words ending in "ough" were created as a means of mental torture. How many different ways are there to pronounce this ending and are there any rules or patterns? Help me out here, sort these by "ough" sound.


although, anough, aswough, athrough, betrough, borough, bough, breakthrough, breastplough, brough, butterbough, chincough, chough, clough, cough, dough, enough, enrough, entrough, farborough, feedthrough, fireplough, floorthrough, forethough, frough, furlough, grough, harborough, harbrough, headborough, herbrough, hiccough, hough, interborough, jough, kinkcough, lough, ough, outborough, outthrough, overrough, pentrough, plough, prefurlough, replough, rough, scarborough, shough, skeough, slough, snowplough, sough, sourdough, superthorough, swough, therethrough, thirdborough, thorough, though, through, tough, triborough, trough, turlough, turnplough, unborough, underbough, unplough, unrough, unthorough, untough, upplough, washtrough, wherethrough, wough, yarborough,


"Bough Wough," says the dough.

[BD80]

Slough.

I saw it in the Eye Vigil thread and it triggered something. I have a pet theory that words ending in "ough" were created as a means of mental torture. How many different ways are there to pronounce this ending and are there any rules or patterns? Help me out here, sort these by "ough" sound.


although, anough, aswough, athrough, betrough, borough, bough, breakthrough, breastplough, brough, butterbough, chincough, chough, clough, cough, dough, enough, enrough, entrough, farborough, feedthrough, fireplough, floorthrough, forethough, frough, furlough, grough, harborough, harbrough, headborough, herbrough, hiccough, hough, interborough, jough, kinkcough, lough, ough, outborough, outthrough, overrough, pentrough, plough, prefurlough, replough, rough, scarborough, shough, skeough, slough, snowplough, sough, sourdough, superthorough, swough, therethrough, thirdborough, thorough, though, through, tough, triborough, trough, turlough, turnplough, unborough, underbough, unplough, unrough, unthorough, untough, upplough, washtrough, wherethrough, wough, yarborough,


"Bough Wough," says the dough.

You made some of those up! Or at least went British on us, which is pretty much the same thing

[davekay1971]

Hansbrough

Triggered! Triggered! Yalisababishwa!

You're right...those words are a form of mental torture.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Hansbrough

Triggered! Triggered! Yalisababishwa!

You're right...those words are a form of mental torture.

And Harbaugh - I know one can't make a trend out of two examples, but there seems to be a link between names ending in "gh" and whining.

[brevity]

My foreign language teacher in high school used to say that English was actually the hardest language to learn, and used the -ough words as an example.

/ow/: bough, plough
/off/: cough, slough, trough
/oh/: dough, furlough, though
/uff/: enough, rough, tough
/ooh/: through

Are there any more ways to pronounce -ough?

[davekay1971]

My foreign language teacher in high school used to say that English was actually the hardest language to learn, and used the -ough words as an example.

/ow/: bough, plough
/off/: cough, slough, trough
/oh/: dough, furlough, though
/uff/: enough, rough, tough
/ooh/: through

Are there any more ways to pronounce -ough?

"tra-vel"

See my example above.

[alteran]

Hansbrough

Triggered! Triggered! Yalisababishwa!

You're right...those words are a form of mental torture.

Now that was just wrong.

And what proof do we have that it was actually spelled that way-- the word of a UNC graduate? Pffft. How would he even know?

[rsvman]

My foreign language teacher in high school used to say that English was actually the hardest language to learn, and used the -ough words as an example.

/ow/: bough, plough
/off/: cough, slough, trough
/oh/: dough, furlough, though
/uff/: enough, rough, tough
/ooh/: through

Are there any more ways to pronounce -ough?

There are, but they are archaic. Hiccough was the original spelling of the word hiccup; therefore "ough" was pronounced as "up." Lough was the original spelling of the highland word "loch," as in "Loch Lomond," and it was pronounced the same way people currently pronounce loch.

Over the years there have been several made-up sentences designed to display the wide variety of pronunciations. Here is one of them: "Plough through enough dough to make you cough or hiccough."

[BLPOG]

Slough.

I saw it in the Eye Vigil thread and it triggered something. I have a pet theory that words ending in "ough" were created as a means of mental torture. How many different ways are there to pronounce this ending and are there any rules or patterns? Help me out here, sort these by "ough" sound.


although, anough, aswough, athrough, betrough, borough, bough, breakthrough, breastplough, brough, butterbough, chincough, chough, clough, cough, dough, enough, enrough, entrough, farborough, feedthrough, fireplough, floorthrough, forethough, frough, furlough, grough, harborough, harbrough, headborough, herbrough, hiccough, hough, interborough, jough, kinkcough, lough, ough, outborough, outthrough, overrough, pentrough, plough, prefurlough, replough, rough, scarborough, shough, skeough, slough, snowplough, sough, sourdough, superthorough, swough, therethrough, thirdborough, thorough, though, through, tough, triborough, trough, turlough, turnplough, unborough, underbough, unplough, unrough, unthorough, untough, upplough, washtrough, wherethrough, wough, yarborough,


"Bough Wough," says the dough.

I don't know if it's fair to use some of the archaic words as examples. I just tried using Google's tool for tracking word usage through 2 centuries of digitized writing and it claims only one result for "enrough."

I think for something to actually qualify as an English word it has to have more usage than, for example, embiggen or cromulent.

[Reilly]

... I think for something to actually qualify as an English word it has to have more usage than, for example, embiggen or cromulent.

I believe Lefty used that to refer to front court players.

[devildeac]

This would make a great skit for SNL Jeopardy.

Jimmy Fallon: "I'll take COLORS for $200, Alex."
Alex (Will): "Color that rhymes with *URPLE."
Jimmy Fallon: "What is LIGHT URPLE?"

(or something like that)

(groan? laugh?)