Some very interesting words come from Africa, with all sorts of unusual letter combinations that can be useful in squeezing a high score from a tricky rack. South Africa, whether from Dutch-origin Afrikaans or native African languages, gives us these:
NARTJIE a tangerine
LEGUAAN a large lizard
KAAL naked
MUTI herbal medicine
NEK a mountain pass
STOKVEL an informal savings pool
JAAP an unsophisticated person
And the ultra-useful JA is simply an Afrikaans form of yes.
NARTJIE is particularly worth knowing when you remember that the letters of RETAIN go with most other letters to form a seven-letter word. And RETAIN with a seemingly awkward J? There it is – NARTJIE (though it also makes JANTIER, an old form of JAUNTIER).
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.
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