12-letter words containing a, o, u, i
- packinghouse — a building where foodstuffs are packed
- paludicolous — inhabiting marshland
- panic button — an alarm button for use in an emergency, as to summon help.
- papal nuncio — someone, such as an archbishop, who is a state's representative of or ambassador to the Pope
- paradoxurine — relating to the palm civet
- paring gouge — a woodworker's gouge having the bezel on the concave face.
- parish house — a building used by a church chiefly for administrative and social purposes.
- parrot tulip — a variety of the cultivated tulip Tulipa gesnerana, having variously colored, often double flowers with fringed petals.
- parsimonious — characterized by or showing parsimony; frugal or stingy.
- passionfruit — any edible fruit of a passionflower, as the maypop.
- passive noun — a noun whose referent is the recipient of an action, as trainee, multiplicand.
- patroclinous — inheritance in which the traits of the offspring are derived primarily from the paternal parent (opposed to matrocliny).
- pauciloquent — using few words in speech or conversation
- pax vobiscum — peace be with you
- payout ratio — the ratio between dividends paid out and earnings per share of common stock within a time period.
- peau de soie — a soft, satin-weave cloth of silk or rayon, grainy and having a dull luster, used to make dresses, coats, trimmings, etc.
- pediculation — the act or process of growing a stalk or pedicle
- percussional — of or relating to percussion
- periostracum — the external, chitinlike covering of the shell of certain mollusks that protects the limy portion from acids.
- perpetuation — to make perpetual.
- pertinacious — holding tenaciously to a purpose, course of action, or opinion; resolute.
- perturbation — the act of perturbing.
- pervicacious — extremely willful; obstinate; stubborn.
- petaliferous — bearing or having petals.
- petrobrusian — a member of a 12th-century sect in S France that rejected the Mass, infant baptism, prayers for the dead, sacerdotalism, the veneration of the cross, and the building of churches.
- phosphaturia — the presence of an excessive quantity of phosphates in the urine.
- picornavirus — any of a group of small, RNA-containing viruses of the family Picornaviridae, infectious to humans and other animals, and including the poliovirus and the rhinoviruses that cause the common cold.
- pleiochasium — a flowering system in which several buds come out at the same time
- plumbaginous — containing graphite.
- plurilocular — possessing many cells
- poète maudit — a poet who receives insufficient recognition in his or her own time
- poison sumac — a shrub or small tree, Rhus vernix (or Toxicodendron vernix), of swampy areas of the eastern U.S., having pinnate leaves and causing severe dermatitis when touched by persons sensitive to it.
- polyomavirus — any of a genus (Polyomavirus) of papovaviruses that naturally infect wild and laboratory mice, and that cause tumors when injected into newborn mice
- populational — the total number of persons inhabiting a country, city, or any district or area.
- porcelainous — made of or resembling porcelain
- postal union — an international agreement on postal rates and services.
- postdiluvial — existing or occurring after the biblical Flood
- postdiluvian — existing or occurring after the Biblical Flood.
- postsurgical — pertaining to or involving surgery or surgeons.
- praseodymium — a rare-earth, metallic, trivalent element, named from its green salts. Symbol: Pr; atomic weight: 140.91; atomic number: 59; specific gravity: 6.77 at 20°C.
- pratincolous — living in a meadow.
- preauthorize — to give authority or official power to; empower: to authorize an employee to sign purchase orders.
- precariously — dependent on circumstances beyond one's control; uncertain; unstable; insecure: a precarious livelihood.
- pregustation — the act of tasting beforehand
- premium loan — a loan made by a life-insurance company in order that a policyholder may pay the due premium, the cash value on the policy serving as security.
- primulaceous — belonging to the plant family Primulaceae.
- prison guard — an officer in charge of prisoners in a jail
- pro-equality — the state or quality of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability: promoting equality of opportunity in the workplace.
- productional — the act of producing; creation; manufacture.
- progymnasium — (in Europe) a school that prepares pupils for secondary education (the gymnasium)