English can be a most interesting language, because of the numerous combinations we can conjure with only 26 letters in the alphabet. Read on and see why the dictionary is your new best friend:

1. “QUEUING” (meaning: lining up) has the longest run of vowels.

2. “STRENGTHS” is the longest word with only one vowel.

3. “STRETCHED” is the longest one-syllable word.

4. “SWIMS” is the longest word with 180-degree symmetry (think ambigrams from “Angels and Demons”).

5. “STEWARDESSES” is the longest word that can be typed with the left hand. (Try it!)

6. “STRESSED” and “DESSERTS” are the longest words that can be reversed.

7. “ESOPHAGOGRAPHERS” (meaning: people skilled in identifying the esophagus through radiographic visualization) is the longest word in which all letters appear twice.

8. “AEGILOPS” (meaning: goat grass) is the longest word with letters in alphabetical order.

9. “DERMATOGLYPHICS” (meaning: the study of skin markings and patterns on fingers, hands and feet) is the longest word without repeating a letter.

10. “LATCHSTRING” (meaning: a cord attached to a latch and often passed through a hole in the door to allow lifting of the latch from the outside) is a word with the longest run of consonants.