OONERISM
Words that go OON!

There's a small collection of (multisyllabic) English words and names that end in -oon. Although it's hard to assign them a common linguistic origin or etymology, they nonetheless seem to constitute an uncommonly colorful and garish subset of the language. If you were going to have a party, this is the set of words to invite!

I am sorely tempted to Croon a Tune to Oona or Mourn a Rune to Lorna Doone using only these words as rhymes.

• baboon
• ballatoon
• balloon
• bassoon
• biggaroon
• Brigadoon: a musical play by Lerner and Loewe about a mythical Scottish village that appears one day every hundred years; the name is thought to be derived from the Scottish landmark, the "Brig o' Doon" or "Bridge of Doon".
• buffoon, a fool or object of fun, ultimately from the Latin "buffare", to puff out the cheeks;
• Cameroon
• cartoon
• cocoon
• doubloon
• dragoon: a light cavalryman. The name is thought to have arisen from the firearm carried by the first mounted infantry, called a "dragon" because of the image of a dragon's head on the barrel.
• festoon
• galloon
• harpoon
• Kowloon
• kroon
• lagoon
• lampoon
• Laocoon
• macaroon
• maroon
• monsoon
• Muldoon
• musketoon
• octaroon
• pantaloon
• Pantaloon
• patroon
• platoon: comes from the French "peleton" for "little ball" which then began to be used for "small group of men."
• poltroon: a coward
• pontoon
• puccoon
• quadroon
• raccoon
• Rangoon
• saloon
• Saskatoon
• Siegfried Sassoon
• simoon or samoon, a violent, dusty desert wind storm.
• spittoon
• spontoon: a "half-pike", a medieval weapon.
• swoon
• tycoon
• typhoon
• vinegaroon: an insect related to spiders, sometimes called the "whip scorpion" because it has pincers and an arching tail. As a defense, it can spray a solution of acetic acid.
• Walloon
• Witherspoon

You can go to the wordplay home page.