Word List

The Yahoo! Word List

The Yahoo! word list covers terms related to communications, technology, branding, and other topics that our U.S. editors have encountered frequently. Following is a healthy sampling of the full Yahoo! word list. (We update the online list quarterly—see what’s new.)

These are the decisions that Yahoo! has come to after years of writing and editing for the Web. You may naturally make different choices and have different entries, but our word list can be useful as a springboard or as an additional reference.

  • 20-something
    Note numeral and hyphen.
    Added on October 21, 2010
  • 24/7
    Note slash. Example: The phones are staffed 24/7.
  • 3D
    No space. Not 3-D.
  • 3G, 4G
    Types of cell phone networks.
  • 50-50
    Note hyphen and use of numerals. Example: They figure their candidate has a 50-50 chance.
  • 8x, 16x
    Format for values that denote the speed of drives such as CD and DVD drives. Example: The DVD-RW drive boasts write, rewrite, and read speeds of 16x, 8x, and 16x, respectively.
  • 9/11
    Acceptable abbreviation for September 11, 2001, when space is tight; however, Sept. 11 is the preferred abbreviation.
  • °C
    Acceptable abbreviation for degrees Celsius. (To create the degree symbol, see “Special Characters.”) Example: The average summer temperature is 23°C in the valley. (No space between the numeral and °C, no period after °C.)
  • °F
    Acceptable abbreviation for degree(s) Fahrenheit. (To create the degree symbol, see “Special Characters.”) Example: The average summer temperature is 75°F in the valley. No space between the numeral and °F, no period after the abbreviation.

Build your own word list

A word list is an important part of a site’s style guide. It tracks your decisions, helps you enforce them to maintain your site’s voice and editorial standards, and keeps editors from having to make the same kinds of decisions over and over again—possibly coming to contradictory conclusions each time.
Build your own word list