rec.puzzles Archive

What are the word records for tautonym (word formed by repeating a sequence of letters)?

language/english/spelling/structure/entire.word/tautonym New

New entry, edited from material collected for the archive and not yet in a released version.

Problem

What are the word records for tautonym (word formed by repeating a sequence of letters)?
(Spelling / Structure / Entire Word)

  a.  longest [13-43]
  b.  beginning with each letter [L175,13-39,15-241,19-27]

[ Editor: question framed by the editor from the headings of the Taxonomy of Wordplay. ]
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[ Editor: from the Taxonomy of Wordplay, www.questrel.com, retrieved 28 Oct 2026. Classes (common, uncommon, hyphenated words, phrases), scores, ties (-t) and the source codes in brackets are explained in language/english/word.records.introduction. ]

a.  longest [13-43]
        common words: couscous, mahimahi, beriberi (8-t)
        uncommon words: tangantangan, chiquichiqui (12-t)
        hyphenated words: bumpety-bumpety, bumpity-bumpity (14-t)
        phrase: per second per second (18)
b.  beginning with each letter [L175,13-39,15-241,19-27]
        see list "Longest Tautonym Beginning with Each Letter" below

Longest Tautonym Beginning with Each Letter
-------------------------------------------
a        uncommon words: atlatl, akeake, anaana (6-t)
        hyphenated words: alang-alang, algal-algal, aloun-aloun (10-t)
b        common word: beriberi (8)
        uncommon words: bellabella, bunyabunya (10-t)
        hyphenated words: bumpety-bumpety, bumpity-bumpity (14-t)
c        common word: couscous (8)
        uncommon word: chiquichiqui (12)
d        common word: dumdum (6)
        uncommon word: dividivi (8)
        hyphenated word: double-double (12)
e        uncommon word: eleele (6)
f        uncommon word: froufrou (8)
        hyphenated word: fifty-fifty (10)
g        common word: grigri (6)
        uncommon words: ganggang, greegree, grisgris, guitguit (8-t)
        hyphenated words: girly-girly, goody-goody (10-t)
h        uncommon words: hotshots, hilahila (8-t)
        hyphenated words: housey-housey, housie-housie (12-t)
i        uncommon word: ipilipil (8)
        hyphenated word: ilang-ilang (10)
j        uncommon word: jigjig (6)
k        uncommon words: kohekohe, kawakawa, kavakava, khoikhoi, khuskhus, kinakina, kouskous, kukukuku (8-t)
l        common word: ll (2)
        uncommon words: lavalava, lapulapu, lomilomi (8-t)
        hyphenated word: links-links (10)
m        common word: mahimahi (8)
n        uncommon word: nagnag (6)
        hyphenated words: never-never, night-night, nonny-nonny, nudge-nudge, nulla-nulla (10-t)
o        uncommon word: oo (2)
        hyphenated word: onga-onga (8)
p        common word: pawpaw (6)
        uncommon words: poroporo, palapala, pioupiou, piripiri (8-t)
        hyphenated word: pretty-pretty (12)
        phrase: per second per second (18)
q        uncommon word: quinaquina (10)
r        uncommon words: rewarewa, riroriro (8-t)
s        common word: ss (2)
        uncommon word: sweeswee (8)
        hyphenated word: softly-softly (12)
t        common words: tsetse, tartar, testes (6-t)
        uncommon word: tangantangan (12)
u        uncommon word: ulaula (6)
v        uncommon words: verver, valval (6-t)
w        uncommon word: wallawalla (10)
x        uncommon word: xx (2)
y        uncommon word: yariyari (8)
        hyphenated word: yabber-yabber (12)
z        uncommon word: zoozoo (6)
        hyphenated word: zero-zero (8)

-- Taxonomy of Wordplay, www.questrel.com