Now that over 480,000 vocabulary tests have been completed, we can have a look at some of the findings. For instance, which words are not known at all in English? The following are the words of which less than 3% of the participants in our test indicated they were English words. For comparison, the fake words were endorsed by 8.3% of the participants on average. So, these are words not only unknown to everyone but also unlikely to be ‘mistaken’ for a true English word. The funny thing is that they often have interesting meanings, including a weapon, a precious stone, animals, several descriptions of people, and so on.

Here they are, the 20 least known words of English, also the least liked words, cast aside by everyone!

genipap (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/genipap)

futhorc (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/futhorc)

witenagemot (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/witenagemot)

gossypol (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/gossypol)

chaulmoogra (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/chaulmoogra)

brummagem (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/brummagem)

alsike (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/alsike)

chersonese (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/chersonese)

cacomistle (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/cacomistle)

yogh (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/yogh)

smaragd (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/smaragd)

duvetyn (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/duvetyn)

pyknic (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/pyknic)

fylfot (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/fylfot)

yataghan (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/yataghan)

dasyure (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/dasyure)

simoom (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/simoom)

stibnite (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/stibnite)

kalian (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/kalian)

didapper (http://www NULL .thefreedictionary NULL .com/didapper)

You can still take part in our vocabulary test and contribute data.