Test your vocab

[Reach]

Originally Posted by PlayTrumpet

This.

And I call bull on the test itself. Tatterdemalion is a Marvel Comics character. wtf?

It's also a ragamuffin, which is incidentally also on this test ;D


But obviously this isn't reliable. The problem is, you can't actually test the person to see whether or not they're defining the word correctly.

I'm willing to bet most people with high scores here are simply clicking words they've seen before or words that look familiar.


I just asked a bunch of people if they knew what 'valetudinarian' meant. They all thought it meant the same thing as valedictorian >_>

In which case, they could click the box if they were taking the test themselves XD

[Reincarnate]

I only knew the word "ragamuffin" because my mother used to say I looked like one when I played out in the yard and got dirty, lol.

Reach: What score do you get?

And yeah this test has all sorts of problems with it but it's still fun if you're able to accurately gauge which words you actually know.

[smartdude1212]

I'm pretty sure I remember my English professor saying something like the average university student has a vocabulary of 20,000-30,000 words whereas Shakespeare's vocabulary surpassed 50,000 words.

It doesn't help that Shakespeare liked to make shit up though. :P

As for this test, I've seen nearly all of these words before, and despite not initially knowing the definition, I could figure some out simply because I've taken two Latin courses. Two examples that I can remember: uxoricide, cenacle.

As for Reach's valedictorian versus valetudinarian quandary (malapropism much? HARHAR), that would have easily skewed a lot of these results -- after all, legerdemain does not have anything to do with tomorrow. Pabulum, though like Pablum, isn't quite Pablum. A tricorn isn't a horse with three horns.

Williwaw was new to me (since when have I studied meteorology) but I certainly laughed at that one. Same goes for sparge. And hey, now I know what they mean!

My result was 33k, and when I went back and looked up the definitions of the words I was clueless about, I'm not surprised I didn't get them. A lot of those words are very field-specific, and unless you are a logophile or hyperlexic or channel Shakespeare's ghost every so often, they're bound to be confusing.

[supermousie]

Eh, 22,800 words.

[~kitty~]

It seems like according to this test, my vocabulary is very sparse in comparison to people my own age. I should be in the 20,000 range, but I got 14,200. I'm severely lacking in my ability to express myself with diction. "Son, I am disappoint."

[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by Reach

and I can count on my fingers how many people I've seen define the word 'Terpsichorean'

derpsichorean

[pmonibuv1]

Your total vocabulary size is estimated to be:
27,900
words

[Juri Han]

3, i like pie =D

[MarioNintendo]

Originally Posted by smartdude1212

I'm pretty sure I remember my English professor saying something like the average university student has a vocabulary of 20,000-30,000 words whereas Shakespeare's vocabulary surpassed 50,000 words.

It doesn't help that Shakespeare liked to make shit up though. :P

Yikes, poor Shakespeare. :P If you check all boxes in the test, it says that your total vocabulary size would be estimated to be around 45,000 words!

That means he invented 5,000+ words? xD

[Niala]

30,600.
I'm pretty happy with this. It's also probably one of the highest legitimate scores in this thread.

[Andrew Mitchell]

meh i'll take the test when i'm old or want to increse my vocab for whatever inane reason, the brain is just as smart (even maybe smarter) when your old as it is when you young.

stuff involving the brain can be put on the backburner, the body is only young once though

[3lijah]

15,800 words.

...hmm...

[PlayTrumpet]

I'm committed to work in 'terpsichorean' into everyday conversation now..

[iironiic]

Your total vocabulary size is estimated to be:


23,300

words

[i love you]

25,600

This is not a surprise since I do not like reading old literature books...

[Artic_counter]

16,800 words. Which is awesome for a non-native English speaker lol

How is "Deracinate" even considered rare ? Hell, even I know the word.

[Crashfan3]

http://testyourvocab.com/?r=366947

I got 25,700. Honestly, I thought I'd be closer to 30k, so I'm slightly disappointed. I looked up a lot of the words (didn't check the boxes though, that would be cheating) just to make myself that much smarterer. :P

Average for my age is 22,908, so I guess that puts me above average, but not by much. Also, they're asking for more participants that are under 15, so I'm gonna get my 11-year-old brother to do this.

[Reach]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

derpsichorean

Nobody ever gets that item on the Peabody. If I ever administer it again I should insert that version as a troll 8)

Likewise, osculation, nidification and tonsorial have almost never been known (though I do get the occasional perplexed look followed by a correct guess).

Some of the items on this test are, I would say are quite a bit harder than these.


Anyway, I scored 40,000. I checked the dictionary after each (non obvious) item to make sure I defined it correctly.

Anyway, from section 1: I missed vibrissae.

In section 2: I missed prig, manacle, sobriquet (wtf?), Lothario (never seen), svelte, potboiler (unexpected definition), bibulous (unexpected definition), embonpoint (wtf!?), cenacle, fuliginious (I guessed woody or smoky. I didn't count it), williwaw (I guessed commotion, though, I didn't count it either), caitiff, pule.


To be fair though, I've spent a significant amount of time learning obscure words, and most of the last page I wouldn't have picked up otherwise.


Good stuff to add to my list though


If you like learning neologisms, here are some fun training tools:

Wordsmart challenge: http://www.wordsmart.com/ws_challenge/index2.php

Freerice: http://freerice.com/

[Reincarnate]

It's a shame that some words aren't used more often. One of my favorite words is "crepuscular," but the impact is lost when few people actually know the word's meaning, let alone its existence. Makes it hard to actually USE it anywhere.

[Reincarnate]

osculation = kissing! I actually know this one from one of my old math classes because there is a concept in vector calc known as the osculating plane

nidification = building a nest

tonsorial = no idea