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Word Guidelines

The choice of words is necessarily restricted and obviously opinionated (and largely US-centric).

The goal is a well-rounded dictionary containing words in common usage, as well as some specialized words that a well-rounded person may know. I (stacksmith) am the only person curating the dictionary. Occasionally I will allow words that may be a bit obscure just because I find them interesting, or disallow words that I find particulary awful.

The dictionary currently contains around 3̶5̶,̶0̶0̶0̶ 41,500 words and is continuously updated. Words not included in the online Merriam-Webster dictionary are likely to be dropped, although some exceptions are made. Note: online scrabble dictionaries contain tons of non-words.

General rules

ASCII letters only - no accents or modifiers;
Words are 4-characters long or longer;
No plural -S nouns (otherwise plurals are OK);
No third-person -S verb forms;
No names or anything that would be capitalized;
No names of places, or names of people of places (or races);
No hyphenated words;

Exceptions and Gray Areas

Uncapitalized variants with non-place meaning are allowed; to wit: the drink 'manhattan', 'joey' kangaroo, etc.

Names of currencies are accepted for now.

Curses/bad words are generally acceptable, as long as they fit other criteria. This can be tricky: 'wop' is too short, but also is very specific to people of a particular place (Italy in this case) and therefore is not allowed. SPIC on the other hand may be aimed at any Spanish-speaking person, while DAGO includes Italians as well -- both are accepted.

Neologisms are generally acceptable when in common usage.

Plurals

Plural nouns are disallowed if formed by appending -S or -ES to the singular form. However, if such words have a distinct usage, especially not as a plural, they are allowed. Some examples are: GLASSES (eyeglasses - singular GLASS has a different meaning), SCISSORS (a single instrument, although a singular form exists also meaning a single item!)

Jargon

Some jargon is allowed. Nothing too esoteric, but words known by laymen interested in specific fields. Consider it a learning opportunity.

Chemical compounds in relatively common use;
Generic names of drugs in common use (naproxen: yes; mifepristone: no)
Science/math terminology a college student would know;
Some (but not all) human and animal anatomy;
Branches of sciences, philosophy and politics;
Names of not-entirely-obscure plants and animals;

Foreign words

Foreign words in reasonably common use in American English are allowed. Any original accents are removed. For instance: touche. Words used exclusively in non-US countries (England, Scotland, etc) are not valid.

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