Questions tagged [language]

A puzzle that heavily depends on linguistic features; for instance it may concern foreign languages, or only work in some particular language, or be built around a peculiarity of the English language.

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21 votes
1 answer
2k views

curious inflection of English words

The agent-noun form of lingerie is frank. The present-participle form of military actions is lying. The past-tense form of sheep is permanent. The past-participle form of six-pack is urn. ...
msh210's user avatar
  • 12.6k
17 votes
2 answers
830 views

Symmetries – a Quadritaisho puzzle

This is part 43 of the puzzle series Around the World in Many Days. Each part is solvable on its own. Dear Puzzling, This is a Quadritaisho puzzle. Divide the grid into rooms by drawing borders along ...
Jafe's user avatar
  • 76.6k
3 votes
1 answer
195 views

A hive buzzing with words

A turtle that goes into battle on a cart. (16) That which is overshadowed by the front. (10) A vital component of gaining speed. (12) A time measuring device that has gained wisdom through the ages....
web adventurer's user avatar
-3 votes
1 answer
215 views

Golden Ape Peculiarity

In the wild he reigns, a colossal beast, From Skull Island, his power unleashed. Climbing skyscrapers, a towering sight, This mighty ape, a legendary might. What is very similar between the ape from ...
web adventurer's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
347 views

Futuristic navigation

This is a 3-part puzzle. Parts can be solved out of order, but, in the end, parts must be put together in order they appear (1, 2, 3) to solve the whole puzzle. Parts are independent from each other. ...
web adventurer's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
427 views

Two similar animals

Can you find the 2 similar animals that has it's names scrambled in this text? laneeatkajswliuotikes Please take note of the tags. Hint: Hint 2: Hint 3:
poco's user avatar
  • 1,828
14 votes
2 answers
1k views

A string of letters (M-I)

Your goal is to place a 4-letter English word somewhere in the string of letters below. There's only one word that fits. ...
Prim3numbah's user avatar
  • 29.7k
-5 votes
1 answer
192 views

This is a message encoded in a rather obscure foreign language. What language is it and what's the riddle's solution?

The following message contains a riddle written in an encrypted form of a rather obscure language lacking a literary standard that is rarely spoken today. What does it mean and what is the solution to ...
Galactic's user avatar
  • 243
24 votes
1 answer
800 views

A connecting wall for series 1?

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #12: mobile-friendly puzzles. Resolve the novel connecting wall below into six groups of four connected words and discover the puzzle's hidden theme....
Stiv's user avatar
  • 133k
2 votes
1 answer
186 views

You will meet someone, and he will throw your father in a deep fryer

You are going to meet someone special. You'll love him, I swear. But there are some things you need to know about him first. If he says you're going to be liberated, bring a jacket. He always has a ...
Dotan's user avatar
  • 2,401
5 votes
1 answer
591 views

What is the number of ways to spell French word « chrysanthème »?

As many people know, theoretically a lot of words have more than one way to be spelled. I just want to provide a single example from English language: the word "fish". As Bernard Shaw noted, ...
Alexander's user avatar
  • 313
5 votes
1 answer
306 views

What word am I describing?

Here's a puzzle answerable using only one word in the English language with five letters based on the following text. स्तैन् ब्लीवस् सैवी Hint 1: Yaan ka'ap'éel capas ti' le talamilo'. Hint 2: ᐊᐃᑉᐸᖓ ...
Galactic's user avatar
  • 243
16 votes
5 answers
2k views

Longest English homophone/heteronym chain

English has many words that have multiple pronunciations for the same spelling (heteronyms) or multiple spellings for the same pronunciation (homophones). What is the longest chain of unique spelling/...
bhh's user avatar
  • 279
6 votes
1 answer
583 views

International youth meeting

The following youths participate at the international youth meeting: John from the USA, 14 years old Pierre from France, 13 years old Stefan from Germany, 15 years old Marten from the Netherlands, 11 ...
quarague's user avatar
  • 1,661
1 vote
1 answer
153 views

Word and number connection

Connect these following words/phrases: Best regards Hatsune Miku Unofficial Miserable Heaven Rubber Meat To the following numbers: 63 4649 56 152 39 .59 29
poco's user avatar
  • 1,828
4 votes
1 answer
349 views

First Prize: Wisdom of 1972

Clues: [contextual images] Q: Lei parla inglese? A: ♂ [25 puzzle pieces with letters inside] [I] [S] [N] [U] [P] [N] [R] [I] [S] [N] [C] [I] [S] [N] [I] [I] [E] [O] [C] [L] [L] [E] [O] [C] [L] ...
Tyler's user avatar
  • 1,083
4 votes
1 answer
430 views

Five element puzzle

Born from water sun stone be B. Five elements are ki. The first give three, the rest he. In five symbols, eight see. From them form, evidently That which is written for thee.
David's user avatar
  • 738
1 vote
1 answer
198 views

Themed Boggle Grids Continued

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #7: Board games. Click here for the rules. Here are some more themed Boggle grids that I created or discovered. Some of these may be references to ...
Scratch---Cat's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
874 views

They are all K-verbs

Find the missing verb. G: Fold, Break, Pry D: Reduce, Vibrate, Rob B: Soak, Subtract, Thrash J: Sleep, Squeeze, ? Subtle Hint: Moderate Hint: Decisive Hint: Very Decisive Hint:
Dannyu NDos's user avatar
  • 4,125
14 votes
1 answer
473 views

PSE Advent Calendar 2022 (Day 21): Color of the Bells

This puzzle is part of the Puzzling Stack Exchange Advent Calendar 2022. The accepted answer to this question will be awarded a bounty worth 50 reputation.< Previous Door Next Door > A Motley ...
caPNCApn's user avatar
  • 18.2k
15 votes
1 answer
522 views

PSE Advent Calendar 2022 (Day 9): International Christmas Crossword

This puzzle is part of the Puzzling Stack Exchange Advent Calendar 2022. The accepted answer to this question will be awarded a bounty worth 50 reputation.< Previous Door Next Door > Languages ...
hb20007's user avatar
  • 680
8 votes
0 answers
438 views

Cookie Unionization

My Christmas cookies are gone! When I came into the kitchen this morning, the box was empty. All that remained were a few crumbs and this note: We absconded. You never saw that coming, did you? Well, ...
Lyra's user avatar
  • 400
1 vote
0 answers
232 views

Clues don't lie?

What are we? I am a b-ball player in a... (9) My prefix is a French degree, My infix is in Britain, misleadingly, My suffix is above you, But my whole is behind. (6) A country that recently changed ...
user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
324 views

Gathering for fraternities and sororities

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #4: Cross-*non*-words I've already got two crosswords for the challenge. Recently, the fraternities, the sororities and I worked together to make a ...
Scratch---Cat's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
318 views

What does the neo-futurist poetry mean?

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #4: Cross-*non*-words May 4 be in 6. May the ...
Scratch---Cat's user avatar
25 votes
2 answers
2k views

Strange Glyphs From Another Time

The following glyphs were recently uncovered at a dig site, which have stumped cryptographers and linguists alike. These symbols are guessed to be some sort of ancient language, but nothing is yet ...
ExecutionByFork's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
113 views

Di Ritorno (I think?)

I am return. In other news, use Eurovision rankings. Also, here's the weekly spelling list (etymologies inclusive): psephology, Greek caixinha, Portuguese auftaktigkeit, German gopak, Russ. from ...
user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
2k views

Terminal 00 sacred words / witch id riddle, [closed]

I found this website angusnicneven.com, dug through it and found a page witch requires a witch ID and sacred words. The page I found this text on is https://angusnicneven.com/...
UnitDelta's user avatar
24 votes
1 answer
1k views

Formal Languages

This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #1: Restricted Title: xkcd 1xxx Emmy prefers when you are formal. Tua’s fathseir ▢▢▢◯▢ ◯▢◯▢▢ They jotú in cheress ▢▢◯▢▢▢◯ Duge where some were ...
caPNCApn's user avatar
  • 18.2k
9 votes
1 answer
766 views

Emotional Depth

Clifford in his 35th book? (4 3) Shrek's pep? (4 6) So-called "Sidney"'s sadness about cookie inevitability? (Pardon my French) (7 5) What do these characters display? ...
caPNCApn's user avatar
  • 18.2k
8 votes
11 answers
2k views

Beware of raining cephalopods

The picture depicts a real traffic sign painted in South Africa. It was intended to be an official traffic sign - but the painter, being unfamiliar with them, painted this according to the brief he ...
Konchog's user avatar
  • 929
3 votes
3 answers
375 views

Watching out over my domain

What is the word? Watching out over my domain Angry, behold my train Zooming forth with refrain Oh, I see you What am I? How many hints can you find? Hint: Hint: Hint:
Jason's user avatar
  • 145
-2 votes
2 answers
1k views

FIND 4 sets of 5-letter words using these non-repeating letters: [closed]

Find 4 sets of 5-letter words using these non-repeating letters: N, C, A, V, M, S, E, Y, U, R, O, F, G, T, I, L, H, K, P, D
Jim Mayer's user avatar
10 votes
5 answers
944 views

An animal, posed in a poem

I might sound fe_ _ _ _ Yet I'm in the opposite. Do not count my _ _ _ _s It was one originally. But you can spell out A bright star in me! And please be sure that you're Going to the right direction! ...
Dannyu NDos's user avatar
  • 4,125
6 votes
1 answer
259 views

An image filled with circles

Here is an image. My question is simple: what is this? (As a side note, I did not invent this, and it was not intended by its creator to be a puzzle.) PS: If you believe you have solved it, see if ...
Akiva Weinberger's user avatar
-4 votes
1 answer
157 views

I am the leader of the alphabet [closed]

A simple one-liner: I am the leader of the alphabet. What am I?
Synchronous's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
363 views

Reading 2424 in Japanese

Celebrating twenty-four! The answer is numerical. Hint: Ambiguous Hint:
noedne's user avatar
  • 15.4k
4 votes
1 answer
245 views

One in a million: a musical charm

Here's a simple riddle I came up with myself. If this puzzle already exists elsewhere on the Web, please forgive me, I didn't know about it. As a whole, I'm charmed. Remove two letters from the start ...
Sylvester Kruin - try Codidact's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
723 views

Language Barrier - A study on languages

(Author Note) A while ago I made some puzzles for a now defunct puzzle hunt project, here's one of them. The answer to this (and some other puzzles of said hunt) is two words. The puzzle itself is ...
Auribouros's user avatar
  • 6,551
12 votes
2 answers
381 views

This One Goes With Five

This one goes with five What is the following Rebus? Hint
DrD's user avatar
  • 39.2k
1 vote
2 answers
475 views

What is a gksrnrdj Word?

This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a gksrnrdj Word™. Use the ...
Scratch---Cat's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
265 views

Massively multilingual Euro crossword

The clues in this crossword are in 18 different European languages: English, Belarusian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, ...
Jafe's user avatar
  • 76.6k
8 votes
3 answers
11k views

What dictionary is Wordle based on?

The US Scrabble dictionary only has 9,000ish 5 letter words, of which a good portion are plurals, and then there's the list of "dead" words in the code and then most of these words are not &...
robotsofbk's user avatar
28 votes
1 answer
1k views

PSE Advent Calendar 2021 (Day 11): What Child – Er, Game Is This?

This puzzle is part of the Puzzling StackExchange Advent Calendar 2021. The accepted answer to this question will be awarded a bounty worth 50 reputation.< Previous Door Next Door > I. The story ...
Sciborg's user avatar
  • 3,349
17 votes
1 answer
1k views

A week around Europe

I've recently returned from a week of travelling around Europe, visiting a different town or city in a different country on each day, choosing my destinations according to an underlying pattern. I've ...
Stiv's user avatar
  • 133k
3 votes
2 answers
470 views

I thought morse code was dead?

My computer went on the fritz earlier today and all of my messages were being sent in what looked like morse code. I recorded a few test messages to confirm my suspicions once the anomaly ended and to ...
Hazel へいぜる's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
119 views

Exploring the Myrmidon's Hive

While getting stuff from the basement, you find a panel concealing a tunnel leading into a myrmidon hive. This discovery, along with the overall freshness of the tunnel, prompts you to go find out if ...
Ichthys King's user avatar
  • 1,185
12 votes
1 answer
750 views

Left wanting more

This is part 14 of the puzzle series that started at Living the traveller's dream. This is the final puzzle in the series and solving it requires knowing the answers to the previous puzzles. Previous ...
Jafe's user avatar
  • 76.6k
4 votes
5 answers
360 views

Three riddles of a common (and repetitive) format

What do you call it when a historically discredited means of contraceptive is vindicated by new research? I was just looking over my son's book report on speed reading strategies; what are you doing ...
Feryll's user avatar
  • 2,349
2 votes
1 answer
511 views

You should mind your P's first

This should be short and sweet. Given his strength, he must be the almighty. Given his health, he must use ointments. Given his status, should we board his ark? Hint 1: Hint 2: Hint 3: Hint 4: ...
Hazel へいぜる's user avatar

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