Really Cool Four-Letter Words

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rolig, dontcry, and sionnach: I also have a list of Slightly Less Cool Four-Letter Words. Some of your faves might be there. I may have moved rank and stew there, and if I haven't... I'll go do that now.

Another "cool" tetragram (at least for me) is tyro.

I may as well take the opportunity to work out what "cool" means to me (a woefully overburdened word, by the way).

When I think of a "cool" word, it's one that is a little surprising, sounds sweet, is fun to say, and expresses its meaning perfectly. I also like it to be usable, in writing if not in conversation, though once in a while I come across an "unusable" word -- because it's irredeemably archaic, or pompous, or overly technical, or narrowly specialized -- that nevertheless holds my gaze with its beauty.

where's the love for love, man?

I kind of like clod, deft, fust, glee, hulk, kiln, brio, shiv, nook, purl, flit, chub, brux, dhow, dido, grig.

And, of course, all the gy*e words: gybe, gyre, gyve, gyle, and gyte.

But I recognize that this is very much a matter of individual taste.

I just stumbled onto this list, c_b, via berm, and it's yummy. There are many wonderful four-letter words, of course. But one I love that's not here is ibex.

You're right. The more I thought about rank and stew, the more interesting they are, just for the reasons you suggest.

I thought about making a Really Cool Five-Letter Words list as well, but ... the thought makes me tired. Maybe someday.

Commonality is in the eye of the beholder. I love the uncommon alternate definitions for these words, and the connotations that come with them. Yeah, they're common when used in common ways, but they also have all kinds of untapped linguistic potential that makes them "cool" in my book. :-)

Rank and stew are good solid words. I left them off because they seemed ... well ... common, as well as ... mostly just common. I'll stare at them for a while and see if they can hold up to ibis and pelf.

No love for rank? Or stew?