The sound “str” is all about objects that are straight, or have structure: “straw” in “strawberries,” for instance, are little straight lines that align. When you make the /str/ sound, you must say each consonant in succession without a vowel. This is the definition of a “phoneme.”

The sound “str” means to move quickly along a mostly straight path, like streams, streamers, and strollers. Because “str” is about “straightness,” this implies “strength,” “strong,” even “stretch”— from a strand of hair to a strand of DNA, the genetic code for all life. Because string is the key component of an instrument one strums, the metaphor of striation—stripes— gives a visual image to “structure,” “instructions,” and “strat- egy”: all which require a strict scaffolding, whether physical or metaphysical.

What words begin with “str”? (One is in the middle.)