20 Fun Facts About the English Language

Think you know English? These surprising facts about the world’s most flexible, frustrating, and fascinating language might change how you see it.

English is a strange language. It borrows from everyone, breaks its own rules regularly, and somehow manages to be both incredibly precise and frustratingly vague. Whether you’re a native speaker or learned it as a second language, there are probably dozens of quirks about English you’ve never noticed—until now.

Here are 20 fascinating facts about the English language that might change how you think about the words you use every day.

1. “Set” Has the Most Definitions of Any English Word

Think you can define “set”? This three-letter word holds the record for the most definitions in the English language, with the Oxford English Dictionary listing 430 different senses. You can set a table, set a record, have a set of keys, watch a sunset, be set in your ways, set sail, set someone straight, or belong to a social set. And that’s just scratching the surface. Next time someone tells you English is easy, ask them to define “set.”

2. The Shortest Complete Sentence Is Two Letters

“Go.” That’s it. Two letters, one syllable, and a grammatically complete sentence with a subject (implied “you”) and a verb. It’s efficient, commanding, and perfectly valid. English teachers everywhere approve.

3. “Uncopyrightable” Is the Longest Word With No Repeated Letters

At 15 letters long, “uncopyrightable” uses each letter exactly once—no repeats. It’s like the perfect Scrabble word, except good luck fitting it on the board. Close runner-ups include “dermatoglyphics” (the study of skin patterns and fingerprints) and “hydropneumatics” (relating to water and air pressure).

4. The Word “Queue” Is Just the Letter Q Followed by Four Silent Letters

English spelling can be chaotic, but this might be the most obvious example. Take away the U, E, U, and E from “queue” and you’re left with Q, which is pronounced exactly the same way. Why? English borrowed this word from French and decided to keep all the unnecessary letters. At least it looks distinguished.

5. “Almost” Is the Longest Word With Letters in Alphabetical Order

Read it slowly: A-L-M-O-S-T. Each letter comes after the previous one alphabetically. It’s oddly satisfying once you notice it. Other words that pull this off include “begins,” “biopsy,” and “chimps,” but “almost” takes the crown for length.

6. The Most Common Letter in English Is “E”

If you’ve ever played Lexicle or Wordle, you already know this instinctively. The letter E appears in about 11% of all English words, making it the most frequent letter. That’s why “ADIEU” and “ARISE” are such popular starting words—they’re E-heavy and cover common vowels. The rarest letter? That’d be Q, appearing in less than 0.2% of words.

7. “Rhythm” Is the Longest English Word Without a Vowel

Well, without a traditional vowel (A, E, I, O, U). The letter Y is pulling double duty here as a vowel substitute. At six letters, “rhythm” holds the record for vowel-free length. Honorable mentions go to “syzygy” (an astronomy term for celestial alignment) and “flyby.”

8. Shakespeare Invented Over 1,700 Words

The Bard didn’t just write plays—he literally created words. “Bedroom,” “lonely,” “generous,” “gloomy,” “critical,” “majestic,” and “eyeball” all came from Shakespeare’s pen. He’d make up words when existing ones didn’t fit his iambic pentameter, and they stuck. We’re still using words he invented 400 years ago.

9. “Bookkeeper” Is the Only Word With Three Consecutive Double Letters

Look at it: book-keep-er. Three pairs of letters in a row—OO, KK, and EE. No other common English word pulls off this feat. “Bookkeeping” extends the pattern even further with four pairs if you include the -ing.

10. The Dot Over the Letter “i” Has a Name

It’s called a “tittle.” That tiny dot is a tittle, and so is the dot over the lowercase “j.” The phrase “to a T” might actually be “to a tittle,” meaning “to the smallest detail.” Now you can impress people at parties with your knowledge of typographical minutiae.

11. “Strengths” Is the Longest Word With Just One Vowel

Nine letters, and only that single “e” counts as a vowel (Y doesn’t count here—it’s acting as a consonant). Try saying it five times fast. Other impressive single-vowel words include “schnapps” and “twelfths,” but “strengths” reigns supreme. It’s also oddly satisfying to type.

12. English Adds a New Word Every 98 Minutes

The English language is constantly evolving. According to Global Language Monitor, a new word is created every 98 minutes. That’s about 14.7 new words per day, or roughly 5,400 per year. Recent additions include “cryptocurrency,” “selfie,” “ghosting,” “adulting,” and “yeet.” Some stick around, others fade away, but English keeps growing.

13. “Pronunciation” Is Ironically Hard to Pronounce

A word about how to say words that people constantly mispronounce. It’s “pruh-nun-see-AY-shun,” not “pruh-noun-see-AY-shun.” The irony isn’t lost on English teachers. Similarly, “mischievous” is three syllables (MIS-chuh-vus), not four, but people keep adding that extra “i” sound anyway.

14. “Dreamt” Is the Only Word Ending in “mt”

And its variants like “undreamt” and “daydreamt.” That’s it. English has thousands of words ending in -ed, -nt, -st, but only this one unusual family ends in -mt. It’s the linguistic equivalent of that one kid who won’t follow the pattern.

15. The Word “Lethologica” Describes When You Can’t Remember a Word

You know that frustrating feeling when a word is on the tip of your tongue but you just can’t retrieve it? That’s lethologica. There’s an obscure, hard-to-remember word for not being able to remember words. If you forget what “lethologica” means, you’re experiencing lethologica about lethologica.

16. “Eleven Plus Two” Is an Anagram of “Twelve Plus One”

And they both equal thirteen. This is the kind of mathematical-linguistic coincidence that feels almost intentional. Count the letters—both phrases use exactly the same letters rearranged.

17. The Longest One-Syllable Word Is “Screeched”

Nine letters, one syllable. Say it out loud—your mouth goes through quite a journey, but it’s technically just one continuous sound. Other contenders include “strengths” (also nine letters), “scratched,” and “stretched.” English loves cramming consonants together and calling it one syllable.

18. “Factious,” “Facetious,” and “Abstemious” Contain All Five Vowels in Order

A-E-I-O-U, right there in sequence. “Facetious” even includes Y at the end if you want all six vowels in order. It’s like someone deliberately designed these words to be satisfying. Other words that pull this off include “arsenious” and “caesious,” but nobody uses those. “Facetious” is the most practical example.

19. The Ampersand (&) Used to Be the 27th Letter of the Alphabet

Back in the day, kids learning the alphabet would end with “…X, Y, Z, and per se and.” The “and per se and” (meaning “and by itself and”) eventually slurred together into “ampersand.” The symbol & was literally considered a letter. Eventually it got dropped from the alphabet, but it’s still hanging around on keyboards.

20. “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” Is a Grammatically Correct Sentence

This is simultaneously impressive and perplexing. Here’s the breakdown: Buffalo (the city) buffalo (the animals) Buffalo (from the city) buffalo (confuse/bully) buffalo (verb) buffalo (bully) Buffalo (from the city) buffalo (animals). It means “Bison from Buffalo, NY, that bison from Buffalo, NY, confuse, also confuse other bison from Buffalo, NY.” Is it useful? No. Is it technically correct? Yes. Does it demonstrate English’s flexibility? Absolutely.

The Beautiful Chaos of English

English is a fascinating mix of contradictions. It’s a language that borrows words from other languages, bends its own rules, and somehow manages to be one of the most expressive and adaptable languages on the planet. It’s frustrating, fascinating, and endlessly interesting.

These facts barely scratch the surface of English’s peculiarities. There are words that contradict themselves (like “cleave,” which means both to split apart and to cling together), words borrowed from dozens of other languages, and spelling rules that are more like suggestions than actual rules.

But that flexibility is exactly what makes English so rich and fun to explore. Every word game you play, every puzzle you solve, every conversation you have—you’re navigating this complex linguistic landscape that’s been shaped by centuries of evolution, borrowing, and creative adaptation.

The English language is wonderfully strange, and understanding its quirks makes it even more enjoyable to use.

Love playing with words as much as we do? Try today’s Lexicle puzzle and put your vocabulary skills to the test!