Heterogram (literature)

A heterogram (from hetero-, meaning "different", + -gram, meaning "written") is a word, phrase, or sentence in which no letter of the alphabet occurs more than once.

An isogram, in which all letters occur an equal number of times, is the same as a heterogram when each letter occurs once.

A heterogram may be distinguished from a pangram (a holoalphabetic sentence), which uses all of the letters of the alphabet (possibly more than once). A perfect heterogram is, however, the same as a perfect pangram, since both consist of all letters of the alphabet with each represented exactly once.

Abjads and abugidas, in which only the consonants are represented in the basic graphemes, have a naturally high incidence of heterograms.

Examples of heterograms

In English

One word

9 letters

capsuling, carpeting, certainly, clavering, coxalgies, cravingly, expulsing, flowchart, franticly, interplay, lacewings, lawyering, neuralgic, overmatch, packeting, paltering, panegyric, parceling, parleying, pecuniary, picayunes, preacting, prelaunch, privately, puckering, racketing, repacking, replacing, replating, replaying, sluiceway, Spaulding, squawking, squeaking, squealing, traveling, unshapely, vectorial.

10 letters

caperingly, lacqueying, taperingly, dumbwaiter

15 letters

uncopyrightable

Phrases/sentences

• The big dwarf only jumps. (Alain Brobecker) (20)

In French

• Lampez un fort whisky! (Alain Brobecker) (18)
• Plombez vingt fuyards! (Alain Brobecker) (19)

In German

• "Fix, Schwyz!", quäkt Jürgen blöd vom Paß. (30)
• Malitzschkendorf (16): German city

In Danish

• Høj bly gom vandt fræk sexquiz på wc. (29, perfect pangram)

In Portuguese

• Velho traduz, sim! (14)

In Spanish

• Centrifugadlos (14, longest heterogramatic word in Spanish)

See also

• Pangram