FIVES JQXZ (1 of 7)

This list–FIVES JQXZ (697)–is tough.  It’s long, and it’s tough.  There is some good news, though – as words get longer, there are fewer and fewer hooks, so prac­ti­cally any hook is a “sur­prise” hook.  Take a look at the TWOS – there are a total of 1068 hooks from the 101 words on the list (778 unique three-letter words).  That’s more than 10 hooks per two-letter word, on aver­age.  With this list, if you ignore the stan­dard S plural, most words don’t have any hooks.

Where to start?  Well, the let­ter A can be added to words, like BUZZ to make ABUZZ (and that’s the first word on the list) – ADOZE, AFFIX, AGAZE all fol­low the same pat­tern.  And there are quite a few “MIX” words:

MIX– to put together into one mass [v MIXED or MIXT, MIXING, MIXES] : MIXABLE, MIXIBLE [adj], MIXEDLY [adv]

 ADMIX  to mix (to put together into one mass) [v –MIXED or –MIXT, –MIXING, –MIXES]
 BEMIX  to mix thor­oughly [v –MIXED or –MIXT, –MIXING, –MIXES]
 COMMIX  to mix together [v –MIXED or –MIXT, –MIXING, –MIXES]
 IMMIX  to mix in [v –ED, –ING, –ES]
–PREMIX  to mix before use [v –MIXED or –MIXT, –MIXING, –MIXES]
 REMIX  MIX, to put together into one mass [v –MIXED or –MIXT, –MIXING, –MIXES]
 UNMIX  to sep­a­rate from a mix­ture [v –MIXED or –MIXT, –MIXING, –MIXES]

Although the def­i­n­i­tion doesn’t fit, COMIX is also an accept­able word – you can remem­ber the word by think­ing of it as mix­ing some­thing with a part­ner, although that isn’t what it means:

 COMIX  comic books or strips [n]

Here is an inter­est­ing hook chain:

 JUG  to put into a jug (a large, deep con­tainer with a nar­row mouth and a han­dle) [v JUGGED, JUGGING, JUGS]
 JUGA– JUGUM, a pair of the oppo­site leaflets of a pin­nate leaf [n]
–AJUGA  a flow­er­ing plant [n –S]

Remember that the let­ter A can be added to both sides of JUG.

Here’s another hook chain:

 AD  an adver­tise­ment [n –S]
 ADZ– to shape (wood) with an adz (a cut­ting tool) [v –ED, –ING, –ES]
 ADZE– adz [n –S]
 ADZED– ADZ, to shape (wood) with an adz (a cut­ting tool) [v]

As I noted in another post (THREES JQXZ), pretty close to any spelling of AXLE is an accept­able Scrabble word:

AXAL axial (per­tain­ing to or form­ing an axis) [adj]
AXEL a jump in fig­ure skat­ing [n –S]
AXIL the angle between the upper side of a leaf and its sup­port­ing stem [n –S]
AXLE a shaft upon which a wheel revolves [n –S] : AXLED [adj]

Some “AXLE” derivatives:

AXIAL per­tain­ing to or form­ing an axis [adj] : AXIALLY [adv]
AXILE axial (per­tain­ing to or form­ing an axis) [adj]
AXIALITY  the state of being axial (per­tain­ing to or form­ing an axis) [n –TIES]

Interesting hooks down through word #42 (AZURE):

 ADMIXT– ADMIX, to mix (to put together into one mass) [v]
 ANNEXE– some­thing added or attached [n –S]
 AZOTED– AZOTE, nitro­gen (a gaseous ele­ment) [adj]
–HAZANS  HAZAN, a can­tor (a reli­gious singer) [n HAZANIM or HAZANS]
–MAXING  MAX, to reach the upper limit [v]
–RAXING  RAX, to stretch out [v]
–TAXITE  a vol­canic rock [n –S] : TAXITIC [adj]
–TAXON  a unit of sci­en­tific clas­si­fi­ca­tion [n TAXA or TAXONS]

AXITE is to TAXITE, as AXON is to TAXON (well, not really, but the pat­tern helps).  Adding an E to ANNEX results in a noun (ANNEXE).  There is an inter­est­ing hook chain here (of words that are all, more or less, related):

 AZAN  a Muslim call to prayer [n –S]
–HAZAN  a can­tor (a reli­gious singer) [n HAZANIM or HAZANS]
–CHAZAN  a can­tor (a reli­gious singer) [n CHAZANS or CHAZANIM]

AXON takes an E (AXONE).  ZOIC (per­tain­ing to ani­mals or ani­mal life [adj]) – >AZOIC (per­tain­ing to geo­logic time before the appear­ance of life [adj]).  AZOTH is a very cool word (and should be remem­bered on principle).

That takes us through the 42 words that begin with the let­ter A on the list. On to the B words.

ZA is a fairly com­mon word on the Scrabble board – and it’s use­ful to take note of strings of accept­able exten­sion plays (i.e. let­ters that can be added to the front, the back, or both).  BAIZA is one of twelve words on this list that end in ZA:

 BAIZA  a mon­e­tary unit of Oman [n –S]
 BRAZA  a Spanish unit of length [n –S]
 COLZA  a plant of the cab­bage fam­ily [n –S]
 GYOZA  a stuffed and fried pocket of dough [n –S]
 HAMZA  an Arabic dia­crit­i­cal mark [n –S]
 HUZZA  to cheer (to applaud with shouts of approval) [v –ED, –ING, –S]
 MATZA  matzo (an unleav­ened bread) [n –S]
 MIRZA  a Persian title of honor [n –S]
 PIZZA  an Italian open pie [n –S]
 PLAZA  a pub­lic square [n –S]
 TAZZA  an orna­men­tal bowl [n –ZAS or –ZE]
 ZANZA  an African musi­cal instru­ment [n –S]

Remember that you can buy GAZAR at the BAZAR.  Here are four words that should be easy to remem­ber (note that a kazoo should be played with a BAZOO, not a GAZOO or WAZOO):

 BAZOO  the mouth [n –ZOOS]
 GAZOO  wazoo (the anus — usu­ally con­sid­ered vul­gar) [n –S]
 KAZOO  a toy musi­cal instru­ment [n –ZOOS]
 WAZOO  the anus — usu­ally con­sid­ered vul­gar [n –S]

BANJO ends in JO (another high value, fairly com­mon two-letter word).  Questions: what is the only other five-letter word that ends in JO ?  The answer is in paren­the­sis a cou­ple of para­graphs down.

BEAUX is an oddly flex­i­ble word (BEAU, EAUX, EAU).  BEMIX is one of the “MIX” words – and it takes a sur­prise hook: BEMIXT.  BIJOU con­tains the word JO (remem­ber a BIJOU is some­thing you’d give to your JO) – remem­ber­ing that will help you spell it.  The plural of BIJOU is either BIJOUS or BIJOUX.  BIZES or BISES.  LAZE – >BLAZE – >ABLAZE .

[answer to ques­tion above: GADJO]

BEZEL can be spelled BEZIL.  This is an inter­est­ing hook chain:

 OR  the heraldic color gold [n –S]
 ORT– a scrap of food [n –S]
–BORT  a low-quality dia­mond [n –S] : BORTY [adj]
 BORTZ– bort (a low-quality dia­mond) [n –ES]

BRAZA is a Spanish unit of length (brazo is “arm,” so I’m sure there’s a con­nec­tion).  BONZE (a Buddhist monk) has a good hook: BONZER (as in “He’s a BONZE? That’s BONZER”).  There are only a few other B words with hooks: BOOZE – >BOOZED, BOOZER; BRAZE – >BRAZED, BRAZEN, BRAZER.  I also asso­ciate BOZO and MOZO (a man­ual laborer) – as in “He’s a BOZO of a MOZO.”

There are 24 C words – and nearly 1/3 of them end in X – CALIX, CALYX, CAREX, CODEX, COMIX, CULEX, CYLIX.

EX is a fairly com­mon tw0-letter word, so know­ing what can be added to it is use­ful.  The fol­low­ing  five-letter words end in EX:

 ANNEX  to add or attach [v –ED, –ING, –ES]
 CAREX– a marsh plant [n CARICES]
 CIMEX  a bed­bug (a blood­suck­ing insect) [n –MICES]
 CODEX– an ancient man­u­script [n –DICES]
 CULEX  a mos­quito (a winged insect) [n CULEXES or CULICES]
 DESEX  to cas­trate or spay [v –ED, –ING, –ES]
 FEDEX  to send by Federal Express [v –ED, –ING, –ES]
 INDEX  a type of ref­er­ence guide at the end of a book [n INDEXES or INDICES]; to pro­vide with an index [v –ED, –ING, –ES]
 LATEX– a milky liq­uid of cer­tain plants [n LATICES or LATEXES]
 LUREX– a metal­lic yarn or thread — a trade­mark [n –ES]
 MIREX– an insec­ti­cide [n –ES]
 MUREX– a marine mol­lusk [n –RICES or –REXES]
 PYREX– borosil­i­cate glass and glass­ware resis­tant to heat, chem­i­cals, and elec­tric­ity — a trade­mark [n –ES]
 REMEX  a flight feather of a bird’s wing [n REMIGES] : REMIGIAL [adj]
–SILEX  sil­ica (a form of sil­i­con) [n –ES]
 TELEX– to send a mes­sage by a type of tele­graphic sys­tem [v –ED, –ING, –ES]
 UNSEX  to deprive of sex­ual power [v –ED, –ING, –ES]

Here are the five-letter words that start with EX:

 EXACT  pre­cise (sharply and clearly defined or stated) [adj –ACTER, –ACTEST]; to force the pay­ment or yield­ing of [v –ED, –ING, –S]
 EXALT  to raise (to move to a higher posi­tion) [v –ED, –ING, –S]
 EXAMS– EXAM, an exam­i­na­tion [n]
 EXCEL  to sur­pass oth­ers [v –CELLED, –CELLING, –CELS]
 EXECS– EXEC, an exec­u­tive offi­cer [n]
 EXERT  to put into action [v –ED, –ING, –S]
 EXILE  to ban­ish from one’s own coun­try [v –ILED, –ILING, –ILES] : EXILABLE [adj]
 EXINE  the outer layer of cer­tain spores [n –S]
 EXING  EX, to cross out [v]
 EXIST  to be (to have actu­al­ity) [v –ED, –ING, –S]
 EXITS– EXIT, to go out [v]
 EXONS– EXON, a sequence in the genetic code [n]
 EXPAT  an expa­tri­ate per­son [n –S]
 EXPEL  to force out [v –PELLED, –PELLING, –PELS]
 EXPOS– EXPO, a pub­lic exhi­bi­tion [n]
 EXTOL  to praise highly [v –TOLLED, –TOLLING, –TOLS]
 EXTRA  some­thing addi­tional [n –S]
 EXUDE  to ooze forth [v –UDED, –UDING, –UDES]
 EXULT  to rejoice greatly [v –ED, –ING, –S]
 EXURB  a res­i­den­tial area lying beyond the sub­urbs of a city [n –S] : EXURBAN [adj]

CALIX and CYLIX (or KYLIX) are the same thing, more or less. The word CALYX has two bingo plu­rals: CALYXES and CALYCES. CAJON means drawer or a small drum in Spanish, although here it means a steep-sided canyon.  You can remem­ber it by real­iz­ing that the word COJONES (a vul­gar word in Spanish that means tes­ti­cles or courage) is often mis­spelled as CAJONES – so CAJON would be the sin­gu­lar, as in “Hey, that dude only has one CAJON.”  Or you might mem­o­rize it by remem­ber­ing that you need at least one CAJON if you’re going to climb out of a steep canyon.

For some rea­son, CAPIZ reminds me of the word “capiche.”  You divorce your wife and she gets to keep the car – she’s now your EX and she’s dri­ving your CAREX (that’s bad, I know).  CIMEX is a large Mexican com­pany (it’s also a blood­suck­ing insect).  Both CARE and CODE take an X – CAREX and CODEX.  COLZA is one of the  “ends-in-ZA” words listed above.  COMIX is one of the “MIX” words (the one “MIX” word that doesn’t really belong).  COXA means the hip or hip joint – and it yields two good words here: COXAE and COXAL.

My COZ deceived me, or should I say COZENED me?  A COZEY is a cover for a teapot, but maybe it’s just as easy to remem­ber it as a vari­ant of COZY.  It can also be spelled COZIE.  If you know what a CROZE is, then you’re prob­a­bly a CROZER (really, CROZER is a vari­ant spelling of CROZE, not some­body who uses a CROZE, but who’s pay­ing atten­tion?).  Culo means “ass” in span­ish – so CULEX, nat­u­rally, is a mos­quito (that’s bites you in the ass).  Remember that CZAR can also be spelled TZAR.

There is an inter­est­ing plural pat­tern here (EX – >ICES):

CAREX – >CARICES
CIMEX – >CIMICES
CODEX – >CODICES
CULEX – >CULICES (although CULEXES is also valid)

The plural of CYLIX is CYLICES, which fol­lows this pat­tern some­what (but not com­pletely, given that the I in the plural is already an I in the sin­gu­lar, unlike the “EX” words above).  CALYX is also close: CALYCES (although CALYXES is also valid).

That’s it for the C words.  And that takes us about 1/7th of the way through the FIVES JQXZ list.

Share on Facebook