The letter T

The T is in that select club with N and R of being one of the best consonants for making bonus words. Not quite in the class of the S but probably the next best. The T is more versatile than the N or R, not so dependent on an E to make it work well. You have suffixes like -TION, -IST, and -ITIS.

Here are a few ITISes you might like to get, in Scrabble if not in real life, all meaning inflammation of the relevant body part:

AORTITIS the aorta

COXITIS the coxa or hip joint

OSTEITIS a bone

OTITIS the inner ear

RECTITIS the rectum

UVEITIS the uvea, part of the eye

There are some wonderful words beginning with T, some more useful for Scrabble than others:

TAGHAIRM form of divination involving lying in a bullock’s hide behind a waterfall

TSKTSK to tut in irritation (hence TSKTSKS, TSKTSKED and TSKTSKING, all allowed)

TUBFAST fasting and sweating in a tub, intended as a cure for disease

TULCHAN the skin of a calf, placed next to a cow to induce it to give milk

By Barry Grossman

Barry is a leading UK Scrabble player and winner of several tournaments. He is the author of Scrabble for Beginners (Chambers), Need to Know Scrabble, Scrabble – Play to Win and The Little Book of Scrabble Trickster. He has also contributed to numerous other books on the subject of words and word-games, has been a series champion of Channel 4’s Countdown, and has written four comedy series for BBC Radio 4. He lives in Hertford.

All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.

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