Words Starting with Double Consonants [closed]

Question

Double consonants often appear in the middle or at the end of a word like:

kitty, Eiffel, thriller, brilliant

bass, guess, basketball

However, I wonder if there are any words (including loanwords) which begin with the double consonants. Any help is appreciated.

Llama :) Are Welsh place names allowed as part of the answer? ;) — Marv Mills, Mar 13, 2015 at 12:54
There are records of families with the surname FFISKE in East Anglia. — WS2, Mar 13, 2015 at 13:19

tylerharms · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-13 14:14:06Z

0

The loanword llano from Spanish.

n. an extensive grassy plain with few trees.

answered Mar 13, 2015 at 14:14

tylerharms

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But isn't the Spanish 'll' a vowel? It's pronounced rather like the English 'y'.
– jamesqf
Mar 13, 2015 at 17:54
It's a matter of dialect. In many parts of central and south America and in the canary islands it's pronounced like a j.
– tylerharms
Mar 13, 2015 at 20:46
2

@jamesqf the pronunciation of words like llave and llamo use the sound /ʝ/ or /ʎ/ which are not vowel sounds. It is similar to the English /j/ as in university, a word which is not preceded by an.
– Matt E. Эллен
Mar 19, 2015 at 16:24
Yes, "ll" in Spanish is regarded as it's own letter, pronounced roughly like "y" in "yes". But since it's two letters in English that means that "llano" and "llama" and a bunch of other loanwords from Spanish begin with two "l" characters.
– Hot Licks
Oct 26, 2015 at 20:30

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