Euouae

Euouae is a mnemonic which was used in medieval music to denote the sequence of tones in the "seculorum Amen" passage of the lesser doxology, "Gloria Patri". In plainchant sources, the differentia, that is, the melodic formula to be sung at the end of every line of chanted psalmody, would be written over either the letters EUOUAE, or merely E----E, representing the first and last vowel of "seculorum Amen."

According to the "Guinness Book of World Records", it is the longest word in the English language which is made up of nothing but vowels; it is also the English word with the most consecutive vowels. It is a useful word for players of Scrabble: though it is made up of six one-point letters, and thus not a high-scoring word, it allows a player to clear a rack of excess vowels without missing a turn to change letters.

ee also

*English words with unusual properties

References

* [http://comp.uark.edu/~rlee/missal.html Article on the Gregorian Missal]