Appendix:Glossary of two-letter English words

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The English language contains various two-letter words. The number is reduced somewhat by the "three letter rule". Here is a list of such words. Some of these words are debatable, because they are archaic, slang, proper names, or words borrowed from other languages.

The common two-letter words are: am, an, as, at, (ax), be, by, do, go, he, if, in, is, it, me, my, no, of, ok(ay), on, or, ox, so, to, up, us, we.

English words

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  • aa/a'aa basaltic lava having a rough, broken surface
  • Abalternative Romanization of Av
  • aeone (Scotts)
  • ah(interjection) expressing various emotions such as surprise, delight, disgust, or pain
  • aia three-toed South American sloth
  • alsoutheast Asian tree
  • amfirst person singular present indicative of the verb "to be"
  • anthe indefinite article used before vowel sounds
  • aogreen and blue, seen as one color
  • Aothe god of the clouds in Polynesian mythology
  • arR
  • asa preposition meaning "to the same extent or degree"
  • ata preposition meaning "in the area occupied by"
  • Ava month of the Hebrew calendar (see Ab)
  • aw(interjection) used variously to express sympathy, tenderness, disapproval, or disbelief by means of slight differences in pronunciation
  • axaxe; tool with a sharp blade for felling trees or chopping wood
  • ayaye; an affirmative vote, or always
  • bapart of the Egyptian soul; also to kiss (archaic); in some dialects, father
  • beto exist
  • boa friend, or a weapon used in martial arts
  • br(rare, interjection) [rare spelling of] brr; expressing shivering
  • bypreposition meaning "near to"
  • ce(obsolete, nonstandard) the letter C
  • daa heavy Burmese knife, father, (nonstandard) or the
  • depreposition meaning of or from in names and in phrases recently borrowed from the Latin or French (de jure, de facto, coup de grace)
  • doto execute, also first tone of the diatonic scale
  • 'e'ean extinct Hawaiian bird
  • ef – the letter F
  • eh(interjection) indicating a lack of understanding
  • el – the letter L, also the god of rain in Canaanite mythology, and also short for "elevated train"
  • ema type of dash used in typesetting, the letter M
  • ena type of dash used in typesetting, the letter N
  • er(interjection) expressing hesitation
  • es – the letter S
  • etpronunciation spelling of ate, the simple past and past participle of eat
  • ew(interjection) expressing disgust
  • ex – the letter X, also one's former spouse or love interest
  • eya gender-neutral neopronoun, or same as yo
  • fafourth tone of the diatonic scale
  • Gaa language spoken in Ghana
  • gealternative spelling of Gaia
  • gia white garment worn in martial arts
  • goto move; also an oriental board game
  • ha(interjection) expressing triumph or laughter; also (with initial capital) the god of the deserts in Egyptian mythology
  • hethird person singular masculine nominative pronoun; also an onomatopoeia of laughter
  • hihello
  • hm(interjection) expressing thought
  • hn(interjection) used to tag a rhetorical question
  • ho(interjection) used to attract attention; also a contraction of hoe (high ground) as in Aynho; also a contraction of whore (slang)
  • Huthe god of the creation word in Egyptian mythology
  • idone of the three components of the psyche
  • ifa conjunction meaning "in the event that"
  • ina preposition meaning "inside"
  • Iothe daughter of Inachus in Greek mythology; also a moon of Jupiter; and also a Hawaiian species of hawk
  • isthird person singular present indicative of "to be"
  • itthird person singular neutral pronoun
  • jodear, sweetheart (Scots)
  • kapart of the Egyptian soul
  • kialternative spelling of qi from Japanese
  • lasixth tone of the diatonic scale
  • lia unit of distance; also (with initial capital) an ethnic minority in southern China
  • lo(interjection) meaning "look!"
  • mamother, also used in some dialects to mean "my"
  • mefirst-person singular objective-case pronoun; a variant of "mi"; also a concept in Sumerian mythology; also used in some dialects to mean "my"
  • mithird tone of the diatonic scale
  • mm(interjection) expressing satisfaction
  • momore
  • mua letter in the Greek alphabet; also (with initial capital) the name of hypothetical vanished continent in the Pacific Ocean
  • myfirst-person singular possessive determiner, or related with the word "me"
  • nano, nah
  • born with the name of (the male form of "née")
  • nonot any; also a general negative response; no. is also an abbreviation of the word "number" ; also a Classical Japanese musical drama.
  • nua letter in the Greek alphabet; also (with initial capital) the god of the ocean in Egyptian mythology; also (with initial capital) an ethnic minority in China
  • Oba river in Siberia (one of the largest rivers in the world), also short for obsidian
  • odan alleged power used to produce mesmerism
  • oeone; wind (Faroe Islands)
  • ofderived from or belonging to
  • oh(interjection) indicating surprise
  • oia sub-genre of punk music, or same as oy
  • OK/okalright, or approve
  • oma mystic syllable used by Hindus and Buddhists in various religious rites
  • ona preposition meaning "above and in contact with"
  • ooa rare Hawaiian bird (pronounced "oh-oh")
  • ora conjunction used to indicate an alternative; also a tincture in heraldry
  • osora, osar, or a bone
  • ow(interjection) indicating sudden pain
  • oxa bovine mammal with hooves
  • oy(interjection) to draw someone's attention
  • pafather
  • pea letter of the Greek alphabet
  • pia letter of the Greek alphabet, or a mathematical constant (c/d)
  • po(slang) a chamber pot
  • qiChinese life force (chi)
  • Rathe god of the sun in Egyptian mythology; also an alternative spelling of Roua
  • resecond tone of the diatonic scale; about (often used in titles of responses to Internet messages); also an alternative spelling of Ra
  • Roa constructed language of the "philosophical" type (words from similar categories begin with similar letters), invented by the Rev. Edward Powell Foster with his wife
  • Rua fertility god in Polynesian mythology
  • sh(interjection) shush; keep quiet
  • sia note in the diatonic scale
  • soto the amount or degree expressed or understood; also a question asking what logically follows from a statement; also fifth tone of the diatonic scale
  • tathank you (Commonwealth)
  • teinherent character/inner power in Taoism; seventh tone of the diatonic scale
  • tia small tree; also the seventh tone of the diatonic scale
  • totowards
  • Tuthe god of war in Polynesian mythology
  • Uathe god of rain in Polynesian mythology
  • uh(interjection) expressing hesitation
  • Ulthe god of the moon in Polynesian mythology
  • um(interjection) expressing hesitation
  • unreferring to a person or one animal
  • upto increase; a vertical direction opposite of down
  • usthe first person plural objective-case pronoun
  • utused to be a musical tone in French solmization system
  • wawha
  • wethe first person plural nominative-case pronoun
  • Withe god of the sun in Lakota mythology, (slang) also with
  • wo(archaic) woe
  • Wua dialect of the Chinese language
  • wy – the letter Y, alternative spelling of wye
  • xea gender-neutral neopronoun
  • xia letter in the Greek alphabet
  • xu(obsolete) formally a hundredth of a dong in Vietnamese currency
  • yayes; also you
  • yeyou (subject or nominative), (archaic) the, or yes
  • Yia minority language in China
  • yo(US, interjection) used to call attention
  • za(slang) pizza
  • zia type of pseudonym used in Imperial China
  • zea gender-neutral neopronoun

English use in a foreign phrase

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Several more of our two-letter words exist as parts of set phrases imported from other languages.

Abbreviations

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Many two-letter words are abbreviations, or apocopations of longer words. They are frequently slang or informal words.

  • ab – an abdominal muscle (slang)
  • ad – an advertisement
  • ag – pertaining to agriculture
  • avavatar (Internet slang)
  • bibisexual (slang)
  • co – clipping of "company"
  • ec – economics (especially after "home")
  • ed – education (informal); also editor
  • ep – episode (slang)
  • eqequalizer (for music recording)
  • eyhey
  • fifiction; like in sci-fi
  • mo – moment
  • op – operator (slang); also operation; opportunity (as in photo op); optical (as in op art); or opinion (as in op-ed)
  • Oz – nickname for the land of Australia
  • phpH (potential for hydrogen; power of hydrogen) a measure of acidity
  • 'za – an abbreviation from the end of pizza

These sorts of lists are useful for some letter games, such as crossword puzzles or anagrams, or in word games, such as Scrabble.

Words acceptable in Scrabble

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The following are lists of two letter words allowed in Scrabble (US, UK, and International). See the Wikipedia's Scrabble article for an explanation of the different word lists and their applications.

OSPD - Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary (US)

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This chart is based on every two letter word in the Merriam-Webster Scrabble Dictionary (US) [[1]]. The 4th edition added five new acceptable two-letter words: FE, KI, OI, QI, and ZA (italicized).

Note that rows C and V and columns C, J, Q, V and Z are completely empty.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A AA AB AD AE AG AH AI AL AM AN AR AS AT AW AX AY A
B BA BE BI BO BY B
C C
D DA DE DO D
E ED EF EH EL EM EN ER ES ET EW EX E
F FA FE F
G GI GO G
H HA HE HI HM HO H
I ID IF IN IS IT I
J JO J
K KA KI K
L LA LI LO L
M MA ME MI MM MO MU MY M
N NA NE NO NU N
O OD OE OF OH OI OK OM ON OP OR OS OW OX OY O
P PA PE PI PO P
Q QI Q
R RE R
S SH SI SO S
T TA TE TI TO T
U UH UM UN UP US UT U
V V
W WE WO W
X XI XU X
Y YA YE YO Y
Z ZA Z
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

CSW - Collins Scrabble Words

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For the two-letter words in CSW, see: [[2]]


References

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[1]: https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/new-scrabble-words-2018#:~:text=Ew%20joins%20another%20106%20two,%2C%20od%2C%20oe%2C%20of%2C

[2]: https://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Scrabble/Two_Letter_Words