Go Short: Essential Three-Letter Words: Essential Three-Letter Words, Part 3

Is your vocabulary feeling lax, with too many words beyond your ken? Dip into this vat of verbal gems of every hue and turn your woe into awe! These four lists are arranged from easiest to most challenging. Try and learn them all!

Here are links to our lists in the collection: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
18 words 3613 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. orb
    an object with a spherical shape
    The sun was transformed into a perfect orange orb as it set over New York City on Tuesday. Washington Times (Sep 16, 2020)
    You can see orb in orbit.
  2. nag
    remind or urge constantly
    Although his daughter-in-law was always nagging him to collect bills, finish work when promised, and discipline his apprentices, nothing she said seemed to touch him. Johnny Tremain
    Nag comes from Old Icelandic for "to grumble," and Norwegian for "to irritate" or "to complain." Nag can be used to describe a person who pesters you with instructions or requests or a persistent problem that won't go away.
  3. irk
    irritate or vex
    It irked him that few people seemed to understand the effects he worked so long and hard to create. The Devil in the White City
  4. lax
    without rigor or strictness
    His appointment indicated one thing: the government believed that discipline on the island was too lax, and that a strong hand was needed to keep us in line. Long Walk to Freedom
    If you see lax in relax, that should give you an idea of its meaning.
  5. urn
    a large vase that usually has a pedestal or feet
    They set the urn in a hollow grave and piled great stones over it. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
    Urere is a Latin verb meaning "to bury," so you'll often see the word urn referring to the container in which a person's cremated ashes are kept.
  6. pun
    a humorous play on words
    “We avoid retail shopping like the plague. No pun intended.” Washington Times (Sep 22, 2020)
    Any joke that makes a play on words can be considered a pun.
  7. ace
    a playing card in a deck having a single pip on its face
    Inside were two playing cards, an ace and a joker. Unbroken
    An ace was originally the face of a die with one pip on it, and then became the name of the equivalent playing card. Because it's the highest rank in most card games, it became a word used to denote something impressive and winning: a flawless, untouched serve in tennis or a hole-in-one in golf. A star baseball pitcher might be called an ace, and if you get 100 on your vocabulary test you can proudly say that you aced it.
  8. rut
    a groove or furrow
    Stanley saw a rut, about a foot wide and six inches deep, running down a cliff. Holes
  9. pod
    the vessel that contains the seeds of a plant
    Whether that will lead to a fuller, more flavorful bean or a pile of tiny, underdeveloped pods remains to be seen. Washington Times (Sep 20, 2020)
    If you've ever shelled peas, then you know what a pea pod is. We also now use the word to describe a small group of people with whom we socialize.
  10. sod
    surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and roots
    She gestured at the churned up earth and sod. The Name of the Wind
  11. yew
    evergreen tree or shrub having red cup-shaped berries
    A sycamore laced with shoes, an oak bound in chains and a 1,000-year-old yew are among the contenders for England's Tree of the Year 2020. BBC (Aug 25, 2020)
    Because of its strength and flexibility, yew was the preferred wood for making longbows in England. Their extraordinary range gave English archers a decisive advantage over the French in 1415's Battle of Agincourt, a decisive battle in the Hundred Years' War famously dramatized in Shakespeare's Henry V.
  12. fen
    low-lying wet land with grassy vegetation
    “There are public concerns about these fens and wetlands,” she said. Washington Times (Sep 13, 2020)
    Not quite a swamp, a fen is wet grassland.
  13. jab
    poke or thrust abruptly
    The displayed cuisine is so inventive and colorful, you may be tempted to jab a fork at the screen. New York Times (Sep 17, 2020)
    A jab is a quick, straight punch in boxing, and in the U.K. it's used to refer to an injection of medicine or a vaccine: what Americans would call a shot.
  14. vet
    a doctor who practices veterinary medicine
    Alex stayed right by Rex’s side through the whole exam, holding him while the vet irrigated the wound and stroking his paw when the doctor injected the cut with anesthetic. Eleven
    Besides being short for veterinarian, vet is also a verb meaning "to check out or to verify."
  15. lop
    cut off from a whole
    Still, I managed to slash with my sword and lop off part of the monster’s snout. The Sea of Monsters
  16. fop
    a man who is overly concerned with his dress and appearance
    The two fops seemed inclined to turn his dress into ridicule, for they were afraid that he intended introducing the fashion into Hamburg; but he took no notice of them. Various
    Fop looks to be a combination of two unrelated words: the Latin fatuus, "fool," with the German foppen, "a fool" or "a hoax." Though outdated, it will sometimes be used to describe a comically vain man.
  17. dud
    an event that fails badly or is totally ineffectual
    A string of critical and commercial duds failed to light up the US box office as Hollywood endured its worst summer in 25 years. The Guardian (Dec 23, 2017)
  18. caw
    the sound made by corvine birds
    They marched alongside the stream as it fattened into a river, alert all the while to the constant sound track of caws, shrieks, growls, and croaks. Beauty Queens
    Caw is a classic example of onomatopoeia, where the word is meant to imitate a particular sound.
Created on Tue Sep 22 16:16:42 EDT 2020 (updated Thu Apr 21 09:06:00 EDT 2022)

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