top of page

Double-Dactyl Word List

helpful list for writers of double-dactyl verse

 

​

​

abecedarian, Abendlandsuntergang, abiogenesis, abracadavera, accessibility, achromatopsia, actionability, admirability, Aegyptopithecine, aerodynamically, aerodynamicists, agoraphobia, agroindustrial, ambassadorial, ambidexterity, amiability, amicability, amphibological, anachronistically, anacoluthia, anagrammatical, analyticity, Anglomaniacal, annus mirabilis-notable year, antediluvian, antemeridian, antepenultimate, anthropogenesis, anthropological, anthropomorphical, anthropomorphism, anthropophagical, antiabortionist, anti-American, antibacterial, anticoagulant, anticompetitive, antidiluvian, anti-incumbency, antimeridian, anti-monarchical, anti-nutritional, anti-revisionist, anxiolytically, aphrodisiacal, applicability, archaeological, Aristotelian, Armamentarium, Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates), asexuality, asexuality, Asian-American, astrobiology, astrobiology, astrophotography, asymptomatically, atypicality, audiovisual, Australopithecus, autobiographer, autobiographies, autobiography, autodidactically, autoerotically, bacteriology, balletomania, benzodiazepine, bibliomania, bibliophilia, bibliotherapy, biodegradable, biodiversity, biomaterial, biomaterials, bisexuality, prolegomenon, bronchopneumonia, caconomasia, cannibalistically, cardiomegaly, cardiovascular, characteristically, cholecystectomy,chriptosporidium, cinematographer, cinematography, cliterodectomy, cliteromania, cliterophobia, coeducational, coincidentally, combinability, comparability, compatibility, configurational, connubiality, consanguineity, conspiratorial, conticommodity, convertibility, conviviality, corporeality, cosmetological, counterinsurgencies, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, counterintuitive, criminological, cryptogrammarian, cryptogrammatical(ly), cryptosporidium, Czechoslovakia(n), dactylomania, decalcomania, demonological, dendrochronology, denominational, deontological, dermatological, deuteranopia, diabetologist, diabolologist, diagrammatical, dialectology, Diprotodontia, dipsomaniacal, dirigibility, disadventageously, disciplinarian, discothèqueology, dodecahedronals, double-dactylity, double-dactyllically, dubitability, egalitarian, egocentricity, egomaniacal, elephantiasis, eligibility, embryological, encomiastical , endocrinologist, endocrinology, entrepreneurial, environmentally, ephemerality, epigrammatical, epipsychidion, epithalamion, epithalamium, equiproportional, erotogenesis, eschatological, estrualogical, etymological, excruciatingly, experimentally, extemporaneous, extracurricular, extraterrestrial, favorability, ferrotitanium, filiogeniture, Finzi-Continian, flibbertigibbety, Franco-American, Francomaniacal, galvanizationist, gardenamerica, gastrointestinal, genealogical, genealogically, generalissimo, geocentricity, geopolitical, geopolitically, geotectonically, gerontocratical, gerontological, gubernatorial, gynecological, hagiographical, hari-karistically, heliocentrical, hematophobia, hematophobically, hemeralopia, hemorrhoidectomy, hendecasyllables, heritability, herpetological, heterogeneous, heterosexual(s), historiographer, homeomorphical , homo neanderthal, homogeneity, humanitarian, hydroelectrical, hydroencephalus, hyperacidity, hyperactivity, hyperexcitable, hyperexcitedly, hyperextendible, hypochondriacal, hypocoristically, hypoglycemia, hysteriographer, iconograhically, ideological, ideologically, idiomatical, idiosyncrasy, illuminatedly, immunological, immunotherapy, impermeabile ( Ital.,) impetuosity, impossibility, improbability, improvisational, inacunabulum, inauthenticity, incomprehensible, incontrovertible, incontrovertibly, Indianapolis, infallibility, inferiority, infinitesimal, inflammability, inflexibility, infotechnology, insatiability, instantaneity, instrumentality, intelligentsia, interamerican, interdependency, interferometer, interferometry, intergalactically, intermolecular, interrelationship(s), intertechnology, invincibility, involuntarily, ionizational, irascibility, irrationality, irreconcilable, irritability, jurisprudentially, knowledgeability, lexicographical, lichenological, liturgiologist, lymphadenopathy, lysogenicity, Machiavellian, majoritarian, malapropositive, malleability, Manifest Destiny, Mariological, marketability, marketamerica, marriageability, Marsupialia, matter-of-factual, matutolypea , Mediterranean, megalomania(c), megalopolitan, megalosaurian, melodramatical, melodramatically, memorabilia, memorability, Mephistophelian, Mesopotamia(n), metalinguistically, metempsychosical, meteorology, -ist, methodological, microamerica, microbiology, -ist, microtasimeter, Middle America. Moral Majority, middleterrestrial, militaristically, minerologically, misericordia, monochromatically, monomaniacal, multidimensional, multisyllabical(ly), municipality -ies, musicological, mythopoetical, nanotechnology, neocolonial, neoconservative(s), Neo-Darwinian, neologistically, neonatology, neoplatonically, neopolitical, nephrolithiasis, neuroanatomy, neuropathology, noli me tangere, nolo contendere, nomdeplumerrily, nomenclatorial, nonagenarian, nonecumenical, non-Epicurean, nonexistentially, non-inspirational, nonvegetarian, noticeability, numerologically, numismatology, nymphomaniacal, octogenarian, oleomargarine, onomatology, opportunistically, organizational, organogenesis, ornithological, orthodontarily, overabundantly, overambitiously, overcapacity, overdevelopment, overemphatically, overindulgences, -ently, overpromiscuous, oversimplicity, ovoviviperous, palatability, paleobotany, paleontology -ist, palingenesian, parachromatical, paradoxology, paraphernalia, paraprofessional, parliamentarian(s), paronomasia, parthenogenesis, particularity, paterfamilias, pathogenicity, Peloponnesian, penetrability, peripatetical, phallocentricity, phantasmagoria, pharmacological, philolinguistical, philoprogenitive, physicochemical, physiological, physiologically, plenipotentiary, pluviaphobia, pococurantism , poikilothermally, polysyllabically, polytechnology, polytheistical, polytonality, polyunsaturate, post-ecumenical, potentiality, practicability, praseodymium, pre-ecumenical, premeditatedly, premillenarian, profitability, prognosticatively, propagandistically, prosecutorial, prosopagnosia, pseudepigraphical , pseudohistorical, pseudoprofessional, pseudopsychology, psychoanalysis, psycholinguistically, psychopathology, pusillanimity, pyromaniacal, quantificational, quantocentennial, quarterbacknowledging, radioactively, radiological, radiosensitive, radiostrontium, radiotelephone, rationalizable, reasonability, rebuttability, recombinational, rectangularity, redistributional, redoubtability, reformability, refrangibility, refundability, relativistically, remanufacturer, representational, reputability, responsibilities, retroactivity, ritualistically, rudimentarily, schistosomiasis, semicentennial, semicylindrical, semiprofessional, sentimentality, separability, separability, serial-comical, serio-comical, sesquicentennial, sesquipedalian, sexagenarian, simultaneity, sociobiology, sociological, sociomedical, sovietologist, Sovietology, specificiality, spirituality, steatopygia , stereomicroscope, stereotypical, superamerica, superheroically, superiority, supermajority, superrespectfully, superseductively, supersensational, surrealistically, symptomatology, synchronological, tatterdemalion, telegenicity, teleological, televangelical, tergiversational, terminological, thanatological , thanatophobia , thermodynamics, toxicological, trancontinentally, transcendentality, transferability, trinitrotoluene, tripersonality, ultraconservative, ultrapiliferous, ultrapoetical, ultrapollutional, unascertainable, unceremonious, uncomplimentary, uncompomisingly, undemocraticly, underdevelopment, undiplomatically, unecumenical, unegotistically, unenergetically, unexpurgatedly, unflappability, unfuckability, ungeriatrically, unhesitatingly, unidimensional, unidirectional, uninterruptedly, universality, unjustifiable / -bly, unmilitarily, unnecessarily, unostentatiously, unpatriotically, unphilosophical, un-Presbyterian, unpsychological, unrealistically, unrecognizable, unsatisfactory, unsuitability, unsympathetically, utilitarian, valedictorian, variability, verisimilitude, veterinarian, vicissitudinous, videoconferencing, videographical, videosyncrasy, villavicencio, volcanological, vulnerability -ies, xylotypographer

Those of you who write double dactyls know that there’s a requirement for one line (generally in the second stanza) to be comprised of a single double-dactyl word.  Here is a non-comprehensive list of double-dactyl words to help you get started. The list is a group-sourcing effort. After I posted it, Chris Doyle alerted me to many words I missed. And former Children's Poet Laureate, Kenn Nesbitt, did the same. (Kenn maintains some very useful word lists of his own on his site, including a fancy-schmancy  list of words and word phrases that rhyme with themselves. It's a lot of fun, and bound to provide great prompts for children's poets everywhere).

bottom of page