Is BURQA a valid word?

BURQA is a loose outer garment that covers the body and face, worn by some Muslim women; it is also spelled BURKA, and both plurals, BURQAS and BURKAS, are valid. It belongs on the Q-without-U list because the U comes before the Q, not after it. The Q near the end of the word can put the Q on a different bonus square than a word that starts with Q.

Before any bonus squares: B 3 + U 1 + R 1 + Q 10 + A 1 = 16. On a double-word square that's 32, on a triple-word 48, and every letter bonus under one of these tiles is applied first.

Later in the game, put the Q on a 3L square and BURQA is worth 36 before any word bonus.

Place that one tile so it also forms a word in the other direction and both words score.

Swap any one letter of BURQA and these are still words:

No other word in the list uses exactly the letters B, U, R, Q and A.

BURQA is a long garment covering the body and face, also spelled BURKA. The U comes before the Q, so no U follows it.

• Q without U

Tileside keeps score, checks words like this one during a challenge, tracks the tiles left in the bag and times turns. It runs in your phone's browser with no account and works offline.

Tileside checks words against the North American list, the NASPA Word List 2023. Your group's chosen dictionary always wins.

Works with the Scrabble board game, played at the table. Tileside is an independent product, not affiliated with or endorsed by the makers of Scrabble.