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4-Letter Word Chain Game #4

For each hint, enter a 4-letter word. The last letter of this word will be the first letter of the next word.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: November 27, 2021
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First submittedFebruary 10, 2015
Times taken56,131
Average score63.3%
Rating3.90
5:00
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Hint
Answer
Rainbow-colored gem
Opal
Magma when at the surface
Lava
Something a sailor says
Ahoy
Walled city of northern England
York
Capital of Ukraine
Kyiv
Artery's counterpart
Vein
Roman fiddler?
Nero
Unpleasant smell
Odor
Chess piece
Rook
Ethnicity of northern Iraq
Kurd
Mute
Dumb
Dutch-speaking person of South Africa
Boer
The Eternal City
Rome
Leader of Dubai or Abu Dhabi
Emir
Famous fancy hotel
Ritz
Hint
Answer
Metallic element
Zinc
What koi and goldfish are
Carp
Summit
Peak
Ms. Winslet
Kate
River that passes through Germany
Elbe
Celtic singer
Enya
German car brand
Audi
Sacred bird of ancient Egypt
Ibis
Snail relative
Slug
Oversupply
Glut
Setting of "The Iliad"
Troy
Steppe-dweller's house
Yurt
Neighbor of Benin
Togo
Double reed instrument
Oboe
Word frequently shouted into a canyon
Echo
+18
Level 75
Feb 10, 2015
Odor is 5 letters, with a u, in much of the world.
+16
Level 77
Mar 12, 2015
even in a quiz that isn't about geography, it's good to see the America vs the rest of the world debate continuing.
+10
Level 84
May 28, 2015
Odoru?
+6
Level 71
May 29, 2015
Odour...
+13
Level 75
Feb 29, 2016
It's only odoru in a cheaply dubbed Japanese cartoon
+8
Level 72
Feb 12, 2017
Yeap, the word is spelt 'odour'. Just because Americans choose to drop the U doesn't mean that's an acceptable spelling, it just means they all spell it wrong. Lol.

While it was fairly easy to figure out, a note at the start saying you were using American 'spelling' might have helped.

+6
Level 50
Mar 24, 2017
LOL 'wrong'
+5
Level 51
Apr 12, 2017
Yes, skibumb, 'wrong', because English was (here's a shocker) invented in England. American English is, by definition, wrong, because the English invented English.
+7
Level 37
May 9, 2017
While I'm not convinced that the English invented English [Isn't English a Germanic Language and didn't the German tribes exist first?] I nevertheless agree that both the English and American spellings should be accepted. Especially, since many non-Americans would have learned English with the English spellings thus making it easier to take these quizzes.
+3
Level 27
Jun 11, 2017
Jesus Christ! You idiots are arguing about how to spell the word odor when there are so many other problems in the world. As long as it a spelling is accepted in one part of the world, it should be fine for a Jetpunk quiz to use it.
+5
Level 58
Feb 20, 2018
Aside from the argument that English spelling throughout history has rarely been consistent, that the standardization occurred separately over the years with the Americas preferring the simplified versions put forth by Noah Webster (Webster's dictionary, anyone?) and the British preferring oddities like adding extra letters (IIRC the Latin origin of "color" has no "u" for instance) meaning neither is inherently right or wrong, and the fact that this is a silly argument to be having in the first place...

The US has the greatest number of native-speaking English speakers in the world. 258 MILLION of the world's 330-360 million. You can say all you want about American-centric quizzes, but spelling? Y'all chill.

+1
Level 77
Jul 12, 2018
I wouldn't exactly be proud of claiming the English language. It's without a doubt the most messed up language on the planet. It's a hodgepodge of dozens of other languages. I mean, you couldn't even agree on the language of origin of your animals versus the meat that comes from them. Pig - Germanic/ham - French, Cow - Germanic/beef - French, Sheep - Germanic/mutton - French, etc. So no...when we take the English language and change it, it's not wrong...it's an improvement.
+2
Level 77
Sep 17, 2018
buck1017, not sure what your point is here. I'm surprised that you didn't notice that there is a consistency in what you've just written: The names for the animals (looked after by low class farmers) are all germanic, whereas the posh names for the meats (eaten by the upper classes) all came from the French. Reason: after William the Conqueror, the upper strata of society spoke French whereas the peasants were Anglo-Saxon.

And yes, English is the language of England so odour is right. Webster didn't regulate the spelling of English (maybe he regulated the spelling of American?), Samuel Johnson did.

On another note, the Italians spell their capital Roma. therefore that is the correct spelling, not Rome!

+3
Level 48
Oct 6, 2018
"wrongly", not wrong, it is an adverb, qualifying the verb spelled
+2
Level 79
Nov 8, 2019
Mr Stone 222, 'wrong' can also be used as an adverb. Consult a dictionary.
+2
Level 60
Jan 4, 2021
That makes no sense. By your logic, modern English spelling is equally wrong because some words were spelled differently in middle English.
+8
Level 70
May 25, 2018
I am English, so spell the word "odour". The American spelling is not wrong, it is simply a different convention.

My problem is that, in English English at any rate, an odour is not necessarily unpleasant.

+4
Level 59
Feb 11, 2020
I agree with that. Thought that immediately. Not all odours are unpleasant. I am pretty sure I have sung songs that talk about heavenly odours and sweet ones etc.
+2
Level 68
Feb 13, 2022
In American English, “smell” is the generic word with no positive or negative connotation. Odor is negative, scent is positive.
+3
Level 60
Feb 13, 2022
Six letters, in fact: Oudour
+1
Level 66
May 14, 2015
a Boer is not an dutch speaking south african, it is strictly an afrikaans speaking farmer and nothing else!
+1
Level 82
May 28, 2015
Where did those farmers live and what language did they speak?
+1
Level 59
Feb 11, 2020
As he said. Boers were originally of Dutch, German & Huguenot descent, who were farmers. They settled in South Africa and spoke Afrikaans.

I thought some also moved to Namibia and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) at some point but not sure.

+1
Level 75
Feb 13, 2022
I think that it was once more common for some (probably specifically the British and English-speaking South Africans?) to refer to all Afrikaans-speakers as "Boers." I don't think it's common anymore.
+4
Level 85
May 28, 2015
Boer simply means "farmer"in Dutch. Some people in South Africa speak Afrikaans and are known as Afrikaners.
+2
Level 42
Oct 14, 2015
"Boer" is an Afrikaans-speaking person of South Africa. Though Afrikaans is rooted in Dutch, the two languages are as different as for eg. Spanish and Italian, German and Dutch. Also, though "boer" literally translates to "farmer", it actually carries a strong cultural label. It harkens to apartheid when the "farmer" was the racist antagonist, benefitting from the oppression of the farm workers. Just be aware of that connotation when using the word in quizzes in this manner :)

Great quiz otherwise :)

+8
Level ∞
Oct 6, 2016
https://www.google.com/search?q=define+boer

Quizzes like this are in crossword-ese. Which means that my goal is not to give a complete and full definition of any term. I'm going to write a few words, not a whole paragraph. Dutch people who settled in South Africa were called Boers. Is that wrong?

+1
Level 50
Mar 24, 2017
/thread
+3
Level 37
Dec 1, 2017
No, it is NOT wrong! - You are absolutely correct. But we must allow space for belly-achers to kvetch, must we not?
+1
Level 60
Jun 11, 2017
I am pretty sure Emir is not spelled with an 'e' but an 'a'. I am Urdu speaking and i know how to speak Arabic and it is pronounced with an 'a' as Amir
+10
Level 75
Jun 11, 2017
And here I've been spelling it United Arab Emirates all this time.
+2
Level 65
Nov 9, 2021
Yeah, that's why the country is called United Arab Amirates...
+2
Level 34
Jun 11, 2017
The "u" in words such as odour, colour, harbour etc are used in English but have their origins in the French spelling, or so my French teacher taught me.
+1
Level 43
Feb 6, 2018
Harbour in French is "port", so that does not come from French
+1
Level 59
Feb 11, 2020
The habit not each word it was then used in.
+1
Level 60
Feb 13, 2022
The French are very skilled at putting extra letters in words that don't necessarily need them. Just ask the Oiseux.
+1
Level 74
Jan 17, 2024
Odeur and couleur in French. I think your teacher was misleading you.
+3
Level 31
Jun 11, 2017
Rendered rather hard by including the 5 letter word "odour" incorrectly :)
+2
Level 77
Jun 11, 2017
I'm sorry, I guess you must be looking for the British JetPunk site. This is the American JetPunk site. Thanks for visiting!
+2
Level 80
Jan 5, 2019
Didn't you see the wink, you prat?
+1
Level 76
Jun 11, 2017
There are a number of irregular verbs where the past simple and the past participle can be spelled with an 'ed' or a 't': learn, burn, dream, kneel, spill, spell, spoil, lean, sweep etc. Both spellings are acceptable in British English -- not sure if it is different in American English.
+1
Level 76
Aug 19, 2021
Burnt and Swept are definitely also words in American English. Not sure about the others...
+4
Level 44
Jun 17, 2017
How is "slug" the second least guessed answer?
+1
Level 37
Jun 23, 2017
For Swanbaby: "Past" is commonly used for a time period as in, "I have done so in the past, but I won't in the future."

"Passed" in usually used to denote action, as in: On my way to the theatre, I drove passed the deli.

+4
Level 76
Jan 19, 2018
That's not quite right. You're right, as the past tense of the verb "pass" it's "passed," but in your example you're using it as a preposition. It's "I passed the theatre" or "I drove past the theatre."
+1
Level 37
Oct 24, 2018
You're absolutely right. My faux pas!
+6
Level 52
Sep 17, 2018
Mute does not mean Dumb. That would have been acceptable, back in a time where Doctors proscribed Heroin as a cough suppressant, not now.

Seriously, this is not okay!

+4
Level 75
Jan 21, 2019
Yes, it does
+7
Level 65
Aug 14, 2019
Dumb as in not being able to make a sound, not as in the newer, and currently more used meaning; not intelligent.

Lots of words go through shifts in their definition. Sometimes they co-exist, sometimes the old meaning disappears completely. (Examples in the same area are, dull, sharp, bright, dim, etc they all originally meant the literal meaning, but came to be an abstract reference to someone's intelligence).

In dutch the old word for mute was stom which nowadays means stupid, so followed a similar pattern as in english. (But stom/stupid has a narrower meaning in dutch, it is more about dislike "stupid school" "stupid shoes" etc than intelligence. Like in english you can use it for dislike but also say somebody is stupid meaning he is not smart. We use the word dom(dumb) in that case.

And then there is shtumm. Very surprised when I first heard that in english. (Which comes via yiddish from german stumm) And only means mute (and nót also dumb or stupid if I'm not mistaken

+2
Level 37
Jul 22, 2019
I thought that an echo was the sound produced when a word (or sentence) is shouted in a canyon, not the word itself.
+3
Level 59
Feb 11, 2020
Someone has counted what words are actually shouted most often in canyons? 'Hello' in its many language forms would be my guess as the most shouted in most canyons. (Not sure if the Grand Canyon is an echoey one.) I should think that often the people thought of 'Echo' echo echo echo echo ... just to hear it.

The story (Greek myth) was that Echo was fated to fade away till just her voice remained and she could only repeat what she heard. Pining for love, I think.

+1
Level 65
Aug 14, 2019
(without having started the quiz) The picture looks like a melted bag of M&M's haha
+1
Level 54
Nov 9, 2020
Accept "Kyiv." Every other time I've entered Kyiv on this site, it's been accepted.
+1
Level ∞
Nov 27, 2021
Kyiv will work now.
+2
Level 24
Oct 7, 2021
Needs to be updated to change the answer to Kyiv, or change it to accept both Kiev and Kyiv
+1
Level ∞
Nov 27, 2021
Why would we display the answer in a language other than English?
+2
Level 74
Feb 13, 2022
Kyiv is becoming more common in English. For example, the Washington Post (which is a newspaper written in English) uses the spelling Kyiv.
+1
Level 66
Apr 15, 2022
The comments keep me entertained more then the quiz.
+1
Level 57
Jun 3, 2022
Today is the day I learned that odour means a foul smell and not just any smell
+1
Level 80
Jan 20, 2023
Probably a regional thing. At least where I'm from "odor" tends to have a negative connotation that "smell" does not, though less negative than "stink."