The Thirty-Nine Steps: 40 words to know before you read it
The 40 words John Buchan uses again and again in The Thirty-Nine Steps that are outside the 4,000 most common in English. Learn them first and the opening chapters read much more easily. Each comes with its pronunciation and a sentence from the book.
till/ˈtɪɫ/43× in the book
I watched from my window till I saw you come home, and then slipped down the stair to meet you....
glen/ˈɡɫɛn/25× in the book
We rumbled slowly into a land of little wooded glens and then to a great wide moorland place, gleaming with lochs, with high blue hills showing northwards.
moor/ˈmʊɹ/22× in the book
A child of ten received my ticket, and I emerged on a white road that straggled over the brown moor.
mil/ˈmɪɫ/17× in the book
Not tonight, for they’ll follow me forty miles along the road, but first thing tomorrow morning.
moorland/ˈmʊɹˌɫænd/16× in the book
A brown-faced woman was standing by the door, and greeted me with the kindly shyness of moorland places.
heather/ˈhɛðɝ/16× in the book
By-and-by I came to a swell of moorland which dipped to the vale of a little river, and a mile away in the heather I saw the smoke of a train.
fool/ˈfuɫ/16× in the book
I found that out—not that it was difficult, for any fool could guess as much.
chap/ˈtʃæp/15× in the book
I rather fancied the chap.
reckon/ˈɹɛkən/15× in the book
Say, sir, I’ve been watching you, and I reckon you’re a cool customer.
mile/ˈmaɪɫ/14× in the book
There was no plan of campaign in my head, only just to go on and on in this blessed, honest-smelling hill country, for every mile put me in better humour with myself.
herd/ˈhɝd/14× in the book
It was some hours since I had tasted food, and I was getting very hungry when I came to a herd’s cottage set in a nook beside a waterfall.
cottage/ˈkɑtədʒ/14× in the book
The moor surged up around it and left room only for the single line, the slender siding, a waiting-room, an office, the station-master’s cottage, and a tiny yard of gooseberries and sweet-william.
mill/ˈmɪɫ/14× in the book
A small mill-lade ran in a wooden aqueduct at the other side of the yard, and into this I fell.
tide/ˈtaɪd/14× in the book
(“Thirty-nine steps”) was the phrase; and at its last time of use it ran—(“Thirty-nine steps, I counted them—high tide 10.17 p.m.”).
roadman13× in the book
Then in a tiny bight of road, beside a heap of stones, I found the roadman.
ridge/ˈɹɪdʒ/13× in the book
Over a long ridge of moorland I took my road, skirting the side of a high hill which the herd had called Cairnsmore of Fleet.
collar/ˈkɑɫɝ/13× in the book
I hunted out a well-used tweed suit, a pair of strong nailed boots, and a flannel shirt with a collar.
queer/ˈkwɪɹ/12× in the book
He seemed to brace himself for a great effort, and then started on the queerest rigmarole.
butler/ˈbətɫɝ/12× in the book
The back door stood open, and a grave butler was awaiting me.
clever/ˈkɫɛvɝ/12× in the book
A clever man can make big profits on a falling market, and it suited the book of both classes to set Europe by the ears.
milkman/ˈmɪɫkˌmæn/11× in the book
But about twenty minutes to seven, as I knew from bitter experience, the milkman turned up with a great clatter of cans, and deposited my share outside my door.
aeroplane11× in the book
I was as certain as if I had been told that that aeroplane was looking for me, and that it did not belong to the police.
whistle/ˈhwɪsəɫ/11× in the book
I opened the front door, and there was my man, singling out my cans from a bunch he carried and whistling through his teeth.
murderer/ˈmɝdɝɝ/11× in the book
… for, unless the murderer came back, I had till about six o’clock in the morning for my cogitations.
cliff/ˈkɫɪf/11× in the book
I think it’s a piece of open coast with biggish cliffs, somewhere between the Wash and the Channel.
din/ˈdɪn/10× in the book
… even the pockets of the clothes in my wardrobe, and the sideboard in the dining-room.
yarn/ˈjɑɹn/10× in the book
“Get on with your yarn,” I said, “and I’ll tell you.”
plump/ˈpɫəmp/10× in the book
two plump thrushes had blundered into it.
cigar/sɪˈɡɑɹ/10× in the book
I left him with the newspaper and a box of cigars, and went down to the City till luncheon.
policeman/pəˈɫismən/10× in the book
Then I caught sight of a policeman a hundred yards down, and a loafer shuffling past on the other side.
puzzle/ˈpəzəɫ/10× in the book
He told me some queer things that explained a lot that had puzzled me—things that happened in the Balkan War, how one state suddenly came out on top …
whisky/ˈhwɪski/9× in the book
There was a tray of drinks on a table beside him, from which he filled himself a stiff whisky-and-soda.
harbour/ˈhɑɹbɝ/9× in the book
If it was a harbour it must be some little place where the tide mattered, or else it was a heavy-draught boat.
occupant/ˈɑkjəpənt/9× in the book
I recognized him as the occupant of a flat on the top floor, with whom I had passed the time of day on the stairs.
presently/ˈpɹɛzəntɫi/9× in the book
“Not Mr Scudder,” he corrected; “Captain Theophilus Digby, of the 40th Gurkhas, presently home on leave.
descend/dɪˈsɛnd/9× in the book
The potato-digging station-master had been gingered up into some activity, for the west-going train was waiting to let us pass, and from it had descended three men who were asking him questions.
grey/ˈɡɹeɪ/8× in the book
There seemed no road to it from anywhere, and to increase the desolation the waves of a tarn lapped on their grey granite beach half a mile away.
innkeeper/ˈɪnˌkipɝ/8× in the book
“You’re young to be an innkeeper,” I said.
dovecot8× in the book
From another window I saw that on the far side of the mill stood an old stone dovecot.
villa/ˈvɪɫə/8× in the book
I walked back through fields and lines of villas and terraces and then slums and mean streets, and it took me pretty nearly two hours.
Pronunciation: ipa-dict (MIT), from Wiktionary.
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