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The English language contains various two-letter words. Here is a short list of such words. Some of these words are debatable, because they are archaic, slang, or proper names.

Table of contents 1 Abbreviations 2 Other Words 3 Two-word Phrases 4 Internal Links

Abbreviations

Many two-letter words are abbreviations of longer words. They are frequently slang or informal words.

• ab -- an abdominal muscle (slang)
• ad -- advertisement
• ag -- pertaining to agriculture
• bi -- bisexual (slang)
• ec -- economics (especially after "home")
• ed -- education (informal); also editor
• ep -- episode (slang)
• eq -- equalizer (for music recording)
• mo -- moment
• op -- operator (slang); also operation; opportunity (as in photo op); optical (as in op art); or opinion (as in op-ed)
• Oz -- nickname for the land of Australia
• ph -- pH (potential for hydrogen; power of hydrogen) a measure of acidity
• 'za -- an abbreviation from the end of pizza

Other Words

• aa -- a type of lava having a rough surface (pronounced "ah - ah")
• ab -- a month in the Hebrew calendar
• ae -- one (chiefly Scottish Gaelic)
• ah -- an interjection used to express various emotions such as surprise, delight, disgust, or pain
• ai -- a three-toed South American sloth
• al -- East Indian tree; also a hirsute creature said to Persian mythology to devour the souls of unborn children
• am -- first person singular present indicative of the verb "to be"
• an -- the indefinite article used before vowel sounds
• ao -- the god of the clouds in Polynesian mythology
• ar -- the letter "R"
• as -- a preposition meaning "to the same extent or degree"
• at -- a preposition meaning "in the area occupied by"
• av -- alternate romanization of ab
• aw -- an interjection used variously to express sympathy, tenderness, disapproval, or disbelief by means of slight differences in pronunciation
• ax -- axe
• ay -- alternate spelling of aye
• ba -- eternal soul in Egyptian mythology; also to kiss (archaic)
• be -- to exist
• bo -- friend; also a staff used in martial arts
• by -- preposition meaning "near to"
• ch -- I (obsolete)
• da -- a Burmese heavy knife
• de -- preposition meaning of or from in names and in phrases recently borrowed from the Latin or French (de jure, de facto, coup de grace)
• di -- a plural of deus (a god)
• do -- to execute; also first tone of the diatonic scale
• ea -- a river (obsolete); also the god of water in Babylonian mythology
• 'e'e -- an extinct Hawaiian bird
• ef -- the letter "F"
• eh -- an interjection used to indicate lack of understanding
• el -- the letter "L"; also the god of rain in Canaanite mythology
• em -- a type of dash used in typesetting; the letter "M"
• en -- a type of dash used in typesetting; the letter "N"
• er -- an interjection expressing hesitation
• es -- the letter "S"
• et -- a past tense form of "to eat"
• ex -- the letter "X"; also one's former spouse or love interest
• fa -- fourth tone of the diatonic scale
• fy -- an interjection expressing disgust (fie)
• Ga -- a language spoken in Ghana
• ge -- alternate spelling of Gaia
• gi -- a judo or karate costume
• go -- to move; also an oriental board game
• gu -- a simple violin used in Shetland (gju, gue)
• ha -- an interjection expressing triumph; also the god of the deserts in Egyptian mythology
• he -- third person singular masculine nominative pronoun
• hi -- hello
• hm -- and interjection expressing thought (hmm)
• ho -- interjection used to attract attention; also a contraction of hoe[?] (high ground) as in Westward Ho![?]; also a contraction of whore (slang)
• hu -- the god of the creation word in Egyptian mythology
• id -- one of the three components of the psyche
• if -- a conjunction meaning "in the event that"
• I'm -- contraction for "I am"
• in -- a preposition meaning "inside"
• io -- the daughter of Inachus in Greek mythology; also a moon of Jupiter; also an alternate spelling of Kiho; also a Hawaiian species of hawk
• is -- third person singular present indicative of "to be"
• it -- third person singular neutral pronoun
• ix -- one of the Bacabs in Mayan mythology
• jo -- dear, sweetheart (Scots)
• ka -- soul essence of life (Egyptian mythology)
• ki -- alternative spelling of qi from Japanese
• ku -- alternative spelling of tu from Hawaiian
• la -- sixth tone of the diatonic scale
• li -- a unit of distance; also an ethnic minority in southern China
• lo -- an interjection meaning "look!"
• ma -- mother
• me -- first-person singular objective-case pronoun; also a concept in Sumerian mythology
• mi -- third tone of the diatonic scale
• mm -- an interjection expressing satisfaction
• mu -- a letter in the Greek alphabet; also the name of hypothetical vanished continent in the Pacific Ocean
• my -- first person singular possessive adjective
• na -- no, not (obsolete)
• ne -- born with the name of (the male form of "nee")
• no -- not any
• nu -- a letter in the Greek alphabet; also the god of the ocean in Egyptian mythology; also an ethnic minority in China
• Ob -- a river in Siberia (one of the largest rivers in the world)
• od -- an alleged power used to produce mesmerism; also the wife of Freya in Norse mythology
• oe -- one; wind (Faroe isles[?])
• of -- derived from or belonging to
• oh -- an interjection indicating surprise
• oi -- a cry of joy (whee); also a sub-genre of punk music
• om -- a mystic syllable used by Hindus & Buddhists in various religious rites
• on -- a preposition meaning "above and in contact with"
• oo -- a rare Hawaiian bird
• or -- a conjunction used to indicate an alternative ; also a tincture in heraldry
• os -- narrow ridge of gravel and sand (esker); also orifice
• ou -- an interjection expressing concession
• ow -- an interjection indicating sudden pain
• ox -- a bovine mammal with hooves
• oy -- an interjection to draw someone's attention
• pa -- father
• pe -- a letter in the Hebrew alphabet
• pi -- a letter in the Greek alphabet and a mathematical constant
• po -- a chamber pot
• qi -- Chinese life force (chi)
• ra -- the god of the sun in Egyptian mythology; also an alternative spelling of Roua
• re -- second tone of the diatonic scale; also an alternative spelling of Ra
• ri -- an mythical creature said to be half human and half jellyfish
• Ro -- a constructed language of the "philosophical" type (words from similar categories begin with similar letters), invented by the Rev. Edward Powell Foster with his wife
• ru -- a fertility god in Polynesian mythology
• sh -- an interjection urging silence[?]
• si -- a note in the diatonic scale; also the god of the moon in Mochican[?] mythology
• so -- to the amount or degree expressed or understood; also fifth tone of the diatonic scale
• st -- an exclamation of impatience
• ta -- thank you (British)
• te -- seventh tone of the diatonic scale
• ti -- a small tree; also the seventh tone of the diatonic scale
• to -- towards
• tu -- the god of war in Polynesian mythology
• ua -- the god of rain in Polynesian mythology
• ug -- to cause hatred
• uh -- an interjection expressing hesitation
• ul -- the god of the moon in Polynesian mythology
• um -- an interjection expressing hesitation
• un -- one
• up -- to increase; a vertical direction opposite of down
• Ur -- a city in ancient Mesopotamia
• us -- the first person plural objective-case pronoun
• ut -- musical tone in French solmization system
• ve -- the brother of Odin in Norse mythology
• Wa -- an ethnic minority in southwestern China
• we -- the first person plural nominative-case pronoun
• wi -- the god of the sun in Lakota mythology
• wo -- alternate spelling of woe
• Wu -- a dialect of the Chinese language
• xe -- alternate spelling of sie
• xi -- a letter in the Greek alphabet
• xu[?] -- a Vietnamese monetary unit
• ya -- yes; also you
• ye -- you (subject or nominative); also the (archaic spelling), using y for the letter thorn)
• Yi[?] -- a minority language in China
• yo -- interjection used to call attention
• yu -- a precious jade
• zi -- a type of pseudonym used in Imperial China
• zo -- a Himalayan cross between a yak and a cow (also dzo)

Two-word Phrases

Several more of our two-letter words exist as parts of set phrases.

• ao -- in ao dai (the Vietnamese garment)
• et -- in et cetera
• id -- in id est (the expanded form of i.e.)
• la -- in sao la, a Vietnamese ox of the genus Pseudoryx, first discovered in the 1990s
• pu -- repeated twice in pu pu platter
• se -- from per se
• vu -- as in déjà vu

See also: List of all two-letter combinations

These sorts of lists are useful for some letter games, such as crossword puzzles or anagrams, or in word games, such as Scrabble.

Internal Links

• one-letter English word
• Three-letter abbreviation
• Four-letter word
• Longest word in the English language

Elsewhere

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