What is a pangram? Meaning and examples
A pangram is a sentence or word that uses every letter of a set at least once. The word comes from Greek: pan means all and gramma means letter.
Famous pangram sentences
- The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. (35 letters)
- Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. (32 letters)
- Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow. (29 letters)
- How vexingly quick daft zebras jump! (30 letters)
Typists, designers and teachers use them because one short sentence shows every letter, which makes them handy for testing keyboards, fonts and handwriting.
Perfect pangrams
A perfect pangram uses each letter exactly once. In English that takes 26 letters and usually some odd words or abbreviations, as in "Mr. Jock, TV quiz PhD, bags few lynx." That is why perfect pangram sentences are rare and prized.
Pangrams in Spelling Bee
In the NYT Spelling Bee, a pangram is a word that uses all seven of the day's letters. Every puzzle has at least one, and each one earns its length plus 7 bonus points. A perfect pangram there is a seven-letter word that uses each letter exactly once.
Stuck on today's? Our pangram hints give you the length, the first letters and a clue, one at a time, and the pangram solver finds them for any seven letters.
Recent Spelling Bee pangrams
- inimically, maniacally, manicallynacilmy
- boxlikeebiklox
- paranoid, raindropdainopr
- empathyeahmpty
- butanolbalnotu
Today's pangram is left out on purpose, so nothing gets spoiled.
Questions and answers
What is a pangram?
A pangram is a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet at least once, like "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." In word puzzles such as Spelling Bee, a pangram is a word that uses every one of the puzzle's letters.
What is a perfect pangram?
A pangram that uses each letter exactly once. In English sentences that means exactly 26 letters, which is very hard; in Spelling Bee it means a seven-letter word using each of the seven letters once.
What is the most famous pangram?
"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," long used to test typewriters and show off fonts. It has 35 letters.
How do you pronounce pangram?
PAN-gram, from the Greek pan (all) and gramma (letter).