Stock up on short words

"Cwm" is not a typo: Three-letter words you didn't know existed

Need a few tricks up your sleeve for playing Scrabble? It’s not always the long words that will impress the other players: Sometimes it’s the surprisingly short combination of letters that none of them knew. Have you ever heard of unassuming three-letter words like "cwm" or "zax"? Those aren’t typos! Let’s explore some of the most obscure –yet perfectly valid– three-letter words.

Before you ask: it’s pronounced "koom". If you run out of vowels in your Scrabble set, this might save you. It refers to a deep, steep-walled valley, often carved by glaciers.

The term comes from Welsh, where it simply means "valley." Many places in Wales proudly bear the name, such as Cwmbran, a town in South Wales, or Cwmtwrch, a village with a name that translates to "Valley of the Wild Boar."

A "zax" is a tool used for cutting or trimming roof slates with precision. The word shares linguistic roots with seax, an Old English word for a short sword or knife.

Plus, in Scrabble, the mighty "Z" (10 points!) paired with "A" (1 point) and "X" (8 points) makes this one of the highest-scoring three-letter words you can play!

No, it’s not a mythical sea creature. "Voe" refers to a small bay or narrow creek that extends inland from the sea. These sheltered inlets are particularly found in Scotland, where they provided safe harbor for fishermen and sailors for centuries.

Some of these sailors were Vikings who once ruled the territory, and who called these bays with the Old Norse word vágr (bay or inlet.)

If you ever see a rowdy, loudmouthed troublemaker being kicked out of a bar in Britain, you might hear someone call them a "yob."

Here’s the funny part: There’s no Old English etymology involved. It’s just "boy" spelled backwards (a bit of Cockney slang trickery).

A very specific noun, but a valid one. A "pyx" is the container used in churches to hold consecrated bread.

The term comes from Latin pyxis, meaning "small box," which in turn derives from the Greek pyxos, a type of boxwood tree. Those three letters combined would earn you at least 15 points!

Have you ever seen the interior of a rock lined with dazzling, beautiful crystals? You might have been looking at a vug.

It’s a small cavity inside a rock that often exposes these pockets of hidden treasures, like quartz, amethyst, or more exotic gems. The word vug comes from the Cornish language, where vooga meant "cave" or "hollow."

Sure, playing "OK" is useful, but have you tried "Oka"? It’s a type of cheese from Canada, and also a historical unit of weight used in Turkey.

The cheese is named after the village of Oka in Quebec, where Trappist monks started making it in the late 19th century.

Gox might sound like the name of some sci-fi character. But it’s just a short abbreviation to refer to "gaseous oxygen."

"O₂" is the more common way to represent it, but "gox" is sometimes used by those in scientific and industrial contexts.

To be fair, you could pluralize any two-letter word by adding an S. "Xis" (the plural of the 14th Greek letter Ξ ξ) is no exception.

Just so you know, "xi" is not the translation of our "X," as you might think. What we call an "X," the Greek would call a "chi."

"Ait" is mostly used in Britain to describe little landmasses that pop up in waterways, like those dotting the Thames.

The word (sometimes spelled eyot) comes from Old English iegoth, meaning "small island." Though it’s not common in everyday speech, you’ll still find it in place names and historical writings.

Before they fully mature, newts crawl on land: this is when we call them efts. These tiny, bright-colored amphibians can be found around damp forests, looking like pocket-sized dragons.

The word eft has been around for centuries, coming from Old English efeta, which evolved to ewt, and ultimately to newt.

The gnu (pronounced "new" or "guh-noo") is better known as the wildebeest, that sturdy African antelope famous for its dramatic migrations across the Serengeti.

The word gnu comes from the Khoisan languages of southern Africa and was first recorded by European explorers in the 18th century. The alternative name wildebeest is the Dutch word for "wild beast," of course.

"Nix" means to reject, cancel, or put an end to something. The word comes from the German nichts, meaning "nothing."

It entered American English in the 19th century, likely through German immigrants. Over time, it became a snappy, no-nonsense way to say "no."

An "ulu" is a traditional Inuit knife with a characteristic curved blade, perfect for chopping, skinning, or even cutting a child's hair (yes, really).

The name comes from the Inuktitut word ᐅᓗ (ulu), which roughly translates to "woman’s knife"

because it was traditionally used by Inuit women for household and hunting tasks.

Secret uses

There’s a hidden microphone in your phone, and here’s where it is

You’ve probably twisted a bread bag closed, filled up your car, or pulled a sheet of aluminum foil from the box thousands of times without giving it a second thought. But many of the everyday objects we’ve used for decades have clever features that most people never notice. From the tiny pocket on blue jeans to the little arrow next to your gas gauge, these hidden designs have practical stories behind them, and once you know them, you’ll never look at these familiar items the same way again.

If you own an iPhone, you’ve probably noticed the tiny black dot next to the rear camera. It’s small, so people tend to assume it’s another camera sensor or even part of the phone’s design. The small hole found near the camera bump on every iPhone is actually a rear microphone.

It captures clearer audio when you’re recording videos and helps reduce background noise during FaceTime and regular phone calls. If you own an iPhone Pro model from the iPhone 12 Pro onward, you'll also see a larger dark circle. That’s the LiDAR scanner, which sends out invisible infrared light to create a 3D map of your surroundings. It helps the camera focus faster in low light, powers Apple’s Measure app, and makes augmented reality features much more accurate.

Whether it's a holiday dinner, an anniversary, or simply a nice meal with friends, you’ve probably held a wine bottle and noticed the deep indentation in the bottom. Many people tend to think the deeper the indent, the fancier the bottle.

That indentation is called a punt, and it’s been a part of the bottle-making for centuries. Originally, it helped strengthen hand-blown glass bottles, making them less likely to crack under pressure. Today, it still adds structural stability, particularly for sparkling wines, while also giving servers a comfortable place to rest their thumb when pouring, though some say it helps collect the sediment as wines age. In any case, a deeper pun doesn’t automatically mean a better or more expensive bottle.

Almost every driver has experienced that awkward moment at the gas station. You pull up to the pump, step out of the car, and suddenly realize the fuel door is on the opposite side.

To help prevent exactly that situation, many modern vehicles include a small arrow next to the gas pump symbol on the dashboard’s fuel gauge. The arrow points towards the side of the vehicle where the fuel filler door is located. It’s a small detail on the dashboard, yet once you notice it, you’ll never have to circle the pump again.

All elevators look pretty much the same. Bigger or smaller, they all look similar, a gray box with a mirror and buttons. But if you pay close attention, you may notice there’s a small round opening near the top of the door.

That opening is a keyhole used by trained maintenance technicians and emergency responders. With a special elevator key, they can manually unlock the landing doors when repairs are needed or if passengers become trapped inside. The system allows professionals to reach the elevator safely without damaging the doors or relying solely on electrical controls. Hopefully, most of us will never need to see it in action. But in an emergency, that tiny opening becomes one of the most important parts of the system.

If you’ve ever stood in the bread aisle comparing loaves, you’ve probably noticed the colorful plastic clips or twist ties holding the bags shut. Contrary to what many think, they’re not simply a part of the packaging.

For many bakeries and grocery stores, the colors indicate the day a loaf was delivered or baked. While the exact color schedule can vary between bakeries and regions, employees use the system to quickly spot older inventory and rotate fresher bread to the back of the shelf. That way, customers are more likely to pick up the freshest loaf available.

Whether you wear jeans every day or only pull them out for yard work, you’ve probably noticed the tiny extra pocket tucked inside one of the front pockets. It’s too small for a phone and not very useful for loose change, but there’s a reason for it.

Back in the 1800s, when Levi Strauss & Co. created rugged denim pants for miners, ranchers, and cowboys working across the American West, pocket watches were commonplace. Workers needed a safe place to carry their watches while riding horses, so that little pocket was designed specifically to protect the watch from damage. Pocket watches disappeared, but the tiny pocket became such an iconic part of blue jeans that manufacturers have continued including it for well over a century.

Almost everyone has had the same frustrating experience. You pull on a sheet of aluminum foil, and suddenly the entire roll slides out of the box and lands on the kitchen counter.

That’s exactly why major manufacturers such as Reynolds introduced the small side tabs, known as end locks, in the mid-1990s. By pressing the tabs inward, they hold the cardboard roll in place like built-in axles. This keeps the roll from sliding out of the box, makes it much more stable as you pull, and helps the serrated edge cut a cleaner, straighter sheet. It also reduces waste by preventing the foil from bunching up or tearing unevenly. It’s a simple design, yet useful as it can get.

Every household has pens lying around for all kinds of purposes. And most of them have a common feature, a hole in the cap, which isn’t simply part of the design.

BIC and other pen manufacturers included the opening as a safety feature. If someone, especially a child, accidentally swallows a pen cap, the hole can allow a small amount of air to pass through, reducing the risk of complete airway blockage while emergency help is on the way. The design became part of border efforts to improve consumer product safety after choking incidents drew attention to the danger of small plastic objects.

If you grew up sewing or watching somebody do it, you probably remember the classic tomato-shaped pincushion sitting beside the sewing basket. Hanging from it was a tiny red strawberry that looked like nothing more than a cute finishing touch.

In reality, that little strawberry has its own job. Instead of soft stuffing, it’s filled with emery, a gritty material made from crushed abrasive minerals. Running pins and needles through it helps polish away tiny spots of rust, smooth rough edges, and keep the points sharp enough to glide through fabric more easily.

Think back to the first time you learned to type. Maybe it was at work, or on a family computer. Wherever it was, someone probably told you to keep your fingers on the "home row." That’s exactly why the F and J keys have tiny raised ridges.

The bumps let your index fingers find the correct starting position by touch alone, allowing you to type without constantly looking down at the keyboard. The technique, known as "touch typing," is widely credited to American court stenographer Frank Edward McGurrin, who demonstrated it in 1888. As typewriters became more common, manufacturers experimented with different ways to help typists orient their hands, and by the mid-20th century, companies such as IBM standardized the subtly raised plastic bars that remain on nearly every keyboard today.