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Ultimate Words Unleashed

Ultimate Words Unleashed (UWU) is an open-source word list for word games. It aims to be comparable to the current word lists used for competitive English-language Scrabble, NWL and CSW. We also seek to include definitions for each word in the list.

Getting started

UWU.txt is the word list with definitions in Zyzzyva format.

removed.txt is a list of words that are in one of the source lexica but are excluded from UWU, along with reasons for removal. This is for informational use only and is not intended as a supplement to UWU.

The recommended lexicon symbol for UWU-exclusive words is %.

Methodology

UWU is based on the following existing word lists:

  • Yet Another Word List (YAWL) 0.2 by Mendel Cooper, which is in turn based on the ENABLE2K list. Quite expansive at 263,533 words but hasn’t been updated since 2000.
  • In the future, Common English Lexicon (CEL) by Eric Smith (Fj00) and Kenji Matsumoto (strataji), a list intended to contain common words only.

Unlike NWL and CSW, UWU includes words longer than 15 letters, which are playable in some games other than standard Scrabble, such as Super Scrabble, Anagrams, or WildWords.

(TODO: criteria for including foreign/archaic/dialectal words?)

UWU excludes slurs from the list of valid words for the following reasons:

We use NASPA’s definition of a slur as given in their NWL2020 report: “at a minimum, one of the known senses of the word applies solely to protected categories of personal identity as covered by the NASPA Code of Conduct: ‘race, color, creed or religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, military status, or disability.’”

Definitions are mostly based on Webster’s New International Dictionary 1909 for words that were in use at that time.

Contributing

Feel free to send pull requests to add new words or to add definitions for existing words. All newly added words should include definitions. For existing words, prioritize shorter words (≤ 8 letters).

Feeling lucky? grep -e '^\S\{,8\}$' UWU.txt | shuf | head -n10

A definition of a lemma word consists of the actual definitions, followed by the part-of-speech tag. The part-of-speech tag also contains a list of inflected forms. An example definition might look like this:

ETAERIO an aggregate fruit [n ETAERIOS]

Note that unlike in CSW, we always list the full inflected form.

  • For nouns ([n …]), list the plural form. If there’s more than one, then separate them with a comma, listing the regular plural form first:

    OCTOPUS an eight-limbed mollusk of the order Octopoda [n OCTOPUSES, OCTOPI, OCTOPODES]

    If the noun is uncountable or a plurale tantum, then don’t list any plural forms. If otherwise the plural form is the same as the singular, then list that as the plural.

  • For verbs ([v …]), list the forms in the following order: 3rd person singular present, past simple, past participle (if different from the past), gerund:

    LIFT to move to a higher place [v LIFTS, LIFTED, LIFTING]
SING to produce musical sounds with one’s voice [v SINGS, SANG, SUNG, SINGING]

    (Irregular verbs with additional forms might need to be examined case by case.)

  • For adjectives ([adj …]), list the forms in the following order (insofar as they exist): comparative, superlative, adverb (-ly):

    BRIGHT emitting a large amount of light [adj BRIGHTER, BRIGHTEST, BRIGHTLY]

  • For pronouns ([pron …]), the lemma form is the nominative form. The other forms should be listed in the following order: objective, possessive determiner, possessive pronoun (if different from the determiner).

    As an exception, each form of I is treated as a lemma form, since I is too short to be included.

  • Other parts of speech, which typically do not inflect: prepositions ([prep]), conjunctions ([conj]), interjections ([interj]), articles ([art]), numerals ([num])

A definition of an inflected form looks like this:

ETAERIOS <etaerio=n> [n]

(For adverbial forms of adjectives, the part-of-speech tag should be [adv], not [adj].)

Multiple definitions are separated with a slash.

If a word has multiple current spellings, then refer to the alternate spellings for each one. List only the inflected forms that pertain to the current spelling:

IONISER a device that ionizes, also IONIZER [n IONISERS]
IONIZER a device that ionizes, also IONISER [n IONIZERS]

These kinds of references can also be used for distinct but related words.

(TODO: additional field-specific guidelines)