The ANEMONE puzzle

The word ANEMONE has only seven letters, but four syllables; this gives $1.75$ letters per syllable on average.

Can you find another English word with

• that is not a proper name

• that has at least four syllables

• that has an average number of letters per syllable below $1.75$

(If there are different solutions with the same average then the one with more consonants gets the prize. If $y$ is pronounced as vowel it counts as a vowel. Otherwise I count $y$ as a consonant.)

• Not quite a duplicate, but some answers are given here. – Julian Rosen Oct 19 '15 at 18:54
• I was all excited about the word aa until I reread the rules and saw the four syllable requirement. So much for a 0.5 score. – Brian J Oct 20 '15 at 14:00
• I wish that three-syllable words were allowed because I would submit W with a score of $0.\overline{33}$ although it's questionable if that counts as a word. – Engineer Toast Oct 20 '15 at 14:46
• BINGO - 5 syllables, 1 letter per syllable -- b-i-n-g-o – n00b Oct 20 '15 at 19:28
• Areola gives 1.5 as well. – Joe Z. Oct 24 '15 at 16:11

A word with 6 letters, 4 syllables (1.5 ratio):

Idiocy

• I moved some of your text outside of the spoiler to be a little more attractive for reading. – Len Oct 20 '15 at 2:58

Oxyopia//Oogonia (5 syllables - 1.4 letters per syllable)
Myopia - nearsightedness(4 syllables - 1.5 letters per syllable)
You'd also have Opiomania (opium addiction) and Oniomania (desire to shop)
(6 syllables, 9 letters, 1.5 ratio)
Oceanic/Ammonia (4 syllables - 1.75 letters per syllable)
Iouea (4 syllables - 1.25 letters per syllable)

• I removed Oceania, I realised it probably counted as a proper name. I'll admit I was originally confused as to the difference between a proper name and a proper noun . Turns out all proper nouns are proper names. – Spacemonkey Oct 19 '15 at 19:08
• I think your link to the last one is incorrect. – dpwilson Oct 19 '15 at 19:43
• Oops, thanks! But I just realized its a proper noun (and thus proper name ... sad face) – Spacemonkey Oct 19 '15 at 19:49
• Is that a word that is entirely vowels and uses all of them? Ugh. I think I need to lie down. – MikeTheLiar Oct 20 '15 at 18:48
• @mikeTheLiar of course not, that would be ridiculous. It doesn't use 'Y' (vowel usage) – Spacemonkey Oct 20 '15 at 20:04

A word with 6 letters and 4 syllables (1.5 letters per syllable):

10 letters, 6 syllables (1.66), not the best, but a fitting entry

Actiniaria (the scientific order of the anemone)

• I like this just because it fits with the original word. : ) – Spacemonkey Oct 21 '15 at 18:19

Another 6 letter 4 syllable: (1.5)

Acuity

A common word with 10 letters and 6 syllables. (1.67 ratio)

And just for fun, I believe these are words with the worst ratio: 10 letters with only 1 syllable (10.0 ratio):

strengthed, scraunched

A word with 6 letters and 4 syllables (ratio of 1.5):

Myopia

WC. 2 letters, 4 syllables, 0.5 ratio. An english word, not a proper noun.

Initialisms are the way to go here, but I can't think of others which have a high proportion of W's and which aren't proper nouns.

• AC would be 5 syllables – Spacemonkey Oct 23 '15 at 17:46
• @Spacemonkey not as ordinarily pronounced. – Sneftel Oct 23 '15 at 19:32
• Air/Con/di/tion/ing ? – Spacemonkey Oct 23 '15 at 19:41
• @Spacemonkey A/C. Using initialisms is bending the rules, but unpacking them to their original meaning would be going too far. – Sneftel Oct 23 '15 at 19:43
• Ah..... wasn't entirely sure what you meant by initialisms – Spacemonkey Oct 23 '15 at 20:33

Here is a website that can answer a lot of these questions with a really concise URL syntax: yougowords.com

Note, a lot of them seem to be wrong, such as alien, which has three syllables instead of four.

Multiple words: 7 Letter 4 syllable.

anatomy idiotic analogy anxiety atypical unusual biology zoology

14 letters/8 syllables (ratio 1.75):

14 letters and 4 syllables (ratio of 1.75):

wordprocessors

• umm thats a 3.5 ratio..... – Spacemonkey Oct 20 '15 at 18:02
• You don't need the s, but that still leaves 3.25. – Mr Lister Oct 20 '15 at 18:13
• Maybe if you dropped the "word" from processors and tried to sell CPU as a word... But that's a big stretch that opens the door to a lot of 1:1 abbreviation/acronym mumbo jumbo. As it is, this just leaves me confused. – raisinghellyer Oct 20 '15 at 19:26
• Yeah, my answer would have been "cm" (four syllables, two letters, score 0.5) but alas. – Mr Lister Oct 21 '15 at 7:58

protected by AzaOct 23 '15 at 16:45

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