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"Very interesting word", said Grandpa. "Could be the only word with this property"

"What property?", I asked

"At least 9 letters long and first four letters are same as the last four letters!

It is kind of a medical word and starts with a name.

And son, it is not a hyphenated word, nor it is a intentionally made double word like abracadabra or muckamuck. No cheat words like that!"

"Where did you find it?" I asked

"On the Net. Someone generated a list for me. But this one was the only non made up word. It is in the MW dictionary"

Really?

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    $\begingroup$ Just to check - first 4 letters same as last 4 letters in the same order, right? $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Apr 14, 2020 at 12:32
  • $\begingroup$ Right @Stiv like muckamuck $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Apr 14, 2020 at 12:34
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    $\begingroup$ Does the fact that Grandpa says "starts with a name" rather than "starts and ends with a name" indicate that the name in question is more than 4 letters? $\endgroup$
    – Mohirl
    Apr 14, 2020 at 13:40
  • $\begingroup$ @DEEM Perhaps you should edit that into the question. $\endgroup$
    – Chronocidal
    Apr 14, 2020 at 13:51

1 Answer 1

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I think Grandpa's obscure medical word might be:

URICOSURIC - a word used to describe "substances that increase the excretion of uric acid in the urine, thus reducing the concentration of uric acid in blood plasma" (Wikipedia)

Note that it begins with the Israeli first name 'Uri'.

I hope Grandpa's alright...

If "someone generated a list for me" is a euphemism for "asking for a friend" he may well have read this word on the side of his bottle of gout medication!

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    $\begingroup$ "at least 9 letters long" @stratos $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Apr 14, 2020 at 12:57
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    $\begingroup$ It's not beyond mine. I find at least the following in one (fairly large) word list, besides the one here: archmonarch, kingmaking, archphylarch, archpatriarch, overhover, shipmanship, outshouts, overcover, overlover. Most of those seem a bit iffy, but "kingmaking" is obviously OK. Not a medical term, though it does start with a (sur)name. $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan ♦
    Apr 14, 2020 at 13:14
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    $\begingroup$ Or you could go to Qat and put in "ABA;|A|=4" and in its default dictionary it will find a bunch of silly echo-y ones but also "singularising" and "galengale". $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan ♦
    Apr 14, 2020 at 13:16
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    $\begingroup$ @Chronocidal But the comment below it does! (I had to clarify that myself...) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Apr 14, 2020 at 13:47
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    $\begingroup$ @Stiv A pity - otherwise, we could just use "rotavator" (longest single-word palindrome in the English language - the rule applies for any length of substring from 1 to 9!) $\endgroup$
    – Chronocidal
    Apr 14, 2020 at 13:52

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