[Jagermonster]

Definitely NOT a coronavirus thread. Article excerpted per rules. What words do you think are beautiful?

[Rurudyne]

The most beautiful words in English are “Lock her up!”

[dfwgator]

"Gorn. Gorn -- it's got a sort of *woody* quality about it. Gorn. Go-o-orn. Much better than 'newspaper' or 'litter bin'."

[Larry Lucido]

Gore-Tex

[Lisbon1940]

Schönheit liegt im Auge des Betrachters.

[Larry Lucido]

"Cartoons are like gossamer, and one doesn't dissect gossamer."

[IronJack]

German does have a lot of guttural sounds. The "ich-" and "ach-" especially.

But German is a very precise language, given its ability to pack different words together into one, which combines all the different meanings. Take "wirkschaftswunder" for example, or "weltanschaung". Even our favorite "schadenfreude" ("harm" + "joy"). These kinds of "portmanteau" expressions give German a precision that is beautiful in its own right, even if it occasionally frightens small children.

[Auntie Mame]

Let’s do onomatopoeias next.

[Billthedrill]

I recall an article proclaiming “fawn” to be the most beautiful word in English. I used to prefer “payday” myself but I suspect the criteria might be different.

[glennaro]

We can turn to most any page in a Shakespeare portfolio and find spectacularly beautiful words and phrases. As I get older, I appreciate these works more and more (particularly in this Age of Text: LOL; GFY; WTH ....)