s-h-o-w-e-r
SHOWER A brief fall of rain or snow; a bathing fixture that sprays water; one who shows or displays. Worth 12 points in word games.
12
Points in Scrabble
Base tile values • No multipliers applied
A shower represents both nature's gentle precipitation and humanity's daily cleansing ritual—two meanings united by the concept of falling water. Whether describing a light rainfall that refreshes a garden or the morning routine that starts your day, SHOWER captures the restorative power of water in its many forms.
In meteorology, a shower differs from steady rain by its sudden start and stop, often accompanied by sunshine between occurrences. These brief downpours can produce rainbows, release the earthy scent of petrichor, and provide crucial water for ecosystems. The word also describes similar falls of other substances: meteor showers illuminate night skies, while particle showers cascade through physics experiments.
As a bathroom fixture, the shower revolutionized personal hygiene in the 19th century. From ancient Greek and Roman communal baths to modern walk-in rain showers, this innovation transformed daily cleansing from a weekly event to a daily ritual. The average person spends over 3,000 hours of their life in the shower—a space for not just cleaning, but thinking, singing, and finding moments of solitude.
In word games, SHOWER demonstrates excellent playability. The combination of the high-value W (4 points) with common letters creates strategic opportunities. The -ER suffix allows for easy hooking, while the SH- beginning can parallel other words effectively. Its verb forms (SHOWERED, SHOWERING) and related words (SHOWERS, SHOWERY) expand your options during gameplay.
SHOWER derives from Old English "scūr," meaning a brief fall of rain, which traces back to Proto-Germanic "*skūraz." The word shares roots with Old Norse "skúr" and German "Schauer." The bathing sense emerged in the 1850s with the invention of overhead water-spraying devices, extending the metaphor of falling water. The verb form "to shower" (bestow liberally) dates from the 1400s, connecting the abundance of raindrops to generous giving. This linguistic evolution mirrors humanity's relationship with water—from natural phenomenon to controlled resource for hygiene and comfort.
•The letter W in SHOWER is worth 4 points, making it one of the more valuable consonants
•The average shower uses 2.5 gallons of water per minute, while a 5-minute shower beats a full bath for water conservation
•SHOWER forms numerous compound words: SHOWERHEAD, SHOWERPROOF, and the informal SHOWER-THOUGHT
"April showers bring May flowers—this proverb captures the life-giving nature of spring rain."
"The meteor shower lit up the night sky with dozens of shooting stars per hour."
Strategic alternatives with comparable scoring potential:
Total base points: 12 (Scrabble)
Vowels: 2 (E, O) | Consonants: 4 (S, H, W, R)
Practice unscrambling letters to find more high-scoring words like SHOWER