Build words starting with one letter

Question

Start with a one letter word. Then add one letter (anywhere) at a time to create another word. (So the second word will be 2 letters, third word woulld be 3 letters and so on). Get to at least 7 letters. My final word is something I don't want to happen to me. Two restrictions:

Only one proper noun allowed

Only 2 vowels allowed.

Hope this is not too open ended. Of course special kudos to anyone who comes up with the longest word.

Should this have the no-computers tag? It would be easy to write a program to grovel through a wordlist to find long chains; for that matter there's at least one online word-searching tool that could do it with no programming required. — Gareth McCaughan, Mar 21 '17 at 00:48
You may be interested in http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/6691/growing-anagrams-what-is-the-longest-possible-list-forming-a-sentence — Ian MacDonald, Mar 21 '17 at 11:57
Okay, then http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16059/matryoshka-words — Ian MacDonald, Mar 21 '17 at 13:31

Techidiot · Answer 1 · 2017-03-21T09:37:13.610

8

Here's a 10 letter word.

A
AN
TAN
TANG
STANG
STANGE $\rightarrow$ Proper Noun
STRANGE
STRANGLE $\rightarrow$ You would not want this :-)
STRANGLER
STRANGLERS

I believe, you will never ever like to have them near you :-)

edited Mar 21 '17 at 09:37

answered Mar 21 '17 at 04:10

Techidiot

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I don't think that you can swap the positions of existing letters as in anagram chains. – M Oehm Mar 21 '17 at 06:28
@MOehm Thanks. Came up with a better one :-) – Techidiot Mar 21 '17 at 08:58
1

you added S and T in one time ! – Sikorski Mar 21 '17 at 09:15
@Sikorski Yup. Corrected. Thanks :-) – Techidiot Mar 21 '17 at 09:29
You could also do STRANG instead of STANGE - Gilbert Strang is the author of a popular linear algebra textbook – Deusovi Mar 21 '17 at 21:52

stack reader · Answer 2 · 2017-03-22T00:39:02.223

5

Here is the longest I found so far.(9 letters)

I
PI
PIN
PING
APING
GAPING
GASPING (Gasping for air is not a situation you want to be in!)
GRASPING (Wouldn't want an old pervert grasping at your stuff!!)
GRASPINGS

edited Mar 22 '17 at 00:39

answered Mar 21 '17 at 01:21

stack reader

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Good one stack reader. Only 1 vowel. – DrD Mar 21 '17 at 13:29
The word I am thinking is something I dont want to happen to me. – DrD Mar 21 '17 at 13:30
@DeepakMahulikar you wouldn't want an old pervert grasping your private stuff now would you? :P ... or be in a situation that you are gasping for air(drowning, yikes!) – stack reader Mar 21 '17 at 14:32
Well since you put it that way!!! – DrD Mar 21 '17 at 14:37
Would "graspings" count? – Michael Lorton Mar 21 '17 at 16:15
@Malvolio it would. I was just not sure if using plural would count or not. – stack reader Mar 21 '17 at 23:54
@stackreader -- someone else used "Stange" -- the surname of a Norwegian fashion model. I think a plural is fair game. – Michael Lorton Mar 22 '17 at 00:32

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 21 '17 at 00:48

4

Well, to get things started here's a 7 with no proper nouns.

A AT HAT HATE HATER HATTER SHATTER

answered Mar 21 '17 at 00:48

Gareth McCaughan

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I'm quite sure that at least six of your seven words are proper nouns somewhere on Earth ;-) – xhienne Mar 21 '17 at 00:55
1

Gareth, since shatter is a verb can you not extend it to shatters? – DrD Mar 21 '17 at 13:32
Of course, but then it would no longer be the case that "My final word is something I don't want to happen to me". Unless there's a disease called "the shatters" or something :-). – Gareth McCaughan Mar 21 '17 at 14:08

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 21 '17 at 01:03

4

Inspired by Gareth.... an 8 word.

A AT PAT PATE PATER PATTER PLATTER SPLATTER

answered Mar 21 '17 at 01:03

Donnelle

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score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 21 '17 at 11:40

2

I IN BIN BING BOING BONING BONKING

I'm might be wrong, but it would be impolite to ask.

answered Mar 21 '17 at 11:40

Neil W

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quarkle · Answer 6 · 2017-03-21T09:37:21.873

1

Here's a guess (8 letters):

I IT LIT LITE TILES SILENT LINIEST SENILITY

And another (7 letters):

A AM SAM SAME NAMES AMENDS MADNESS

edited Mar 21 '17 at 09:37

answered Mar 21 '17 at 08:41

quarkle

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Quarkle, I apologize for unclear explanation. Cannot rearrange letters like from LIKE to TILES. Add letter without the order change. Sorry again – DrD Mar 21 '17 at 13:34

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 21 '17 at 13:37

1

Best I could do!

I ID AID AIDE AIDER AIDERS RAIDERS BRAIDERS ABRAIDERS

answered Mar 21 '17 at 13:37

Ian Hank

11
2

2

"My final word is something I don't want to happen to me."? – Rand al'Thor Mar 21 '17 at 13:40
3 vowels were used also – DrD Mar 22 '17 at 00:32

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 21 '17 at 14:22

0

No proper nouns, only adding to end/beginning:

a as ass pass passé passel passels

answered Mar 21 '17 at 14:22

sirjonsnow

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Missed the rule about not happening to you :\ – sirjonsnow Mar 21 '17 at 14:24

score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Mar 22 '17 at 13:50

0

A
Al
ale
sale
scale
scaled
scalded
Don't want to get scalded

edited Mar 22 '17 at 13:50

Techidiot

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answered Mar 22 '17 at 13:35

DrD

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I think AL is just a suffix. – Techidiot Mar 22 '17 at 13:36
1

I think that's the one allowed proper noun - Al, as in the name. – F1Krazy Mar 22 '17 at 13:38
@F1Krazy Ah, yes! – Techidiot Mar 22 '17 at 13:49

Build words starting with one letter

9 Answers9