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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.

  • T-shirt
    Note capitalization and hyphen.
  • tea party
    Lowercase, even when referring to the political group or movement.
    Added on October 22, 2010
  • techno-
    Generally, close up this prefix with root words unless the root word starts with an o or a capital letter—if it does, insert a hyphen. Examples: technobabble, technoelitist, technophobia.
  • text (n., v.)
    Short form of text message. Plural: texts. Other forms: texted, texting. Examples: Did you get my text? Don’t text while driving. She was texting during the lecture.
  • text box
  • text message (n.), text-message (adj., v.)
    Two words when used as a noun. Note hyphen when used as an adjective or a verb. Examples: She had a heated text-message argument with her boyfriend. Did you get my text message? I’ll text-message you with the details.
  • thank-you (n., adj.), thank you (v. + obj.)
    Note hyphen when used as a noun or an adjective. Two words when used as a verb and object. Plural: thank-yous. Examples: As a thank-you for your participation, you’ll receive a $10 gift card. Please accept this thank-you gift for your participation. We would like to thank you for participating.
  • theater, theatre
    The preferred U.S. spelling is theater. Theatre is chiefly British.
  • thousand
    In general, spell out thousand, but if space is tight, K is an acceptable abbreviation. Don’t abbreviate as M or G. Example: Contestant wins $5K on game show (headline).
  • thumb drive
    Two words, lowercase. Another name for flash drive.
  • timeshift, timeshifting
    One word. Refers to recording and storing a program to watch or to listen to later.
  • TiVo
    Note capitalization. attn. Do not use this trademark generically or as a verb, and don’t add an s to form a plural.
  • to-do (n., adj.)
    Hyphenate when using as a noun or adjective. Use an apostrophe in the plural form: to-do’s. Capitalize as To-Do in title case.
    Added on October 22, 2010
  • toolbar
    Lowercase when used generically.
  • tooltip
    One word, lowercase. A small box containing informational text that appears onscreen when the mouse cursor or pointer rolls over an item on a webpage. Also called a help tag.
  • TOS
    Abbreviation for terms of service. Abbreviation OK on second reference.
  • touchpad (n., adj.)
  • touchscreen (n., adj.)
  • toward, towards
    The preferred U.S. spelling is toward. Towards is chiefly British and is considered a variant of toward in the United States.
  • trackball (n., adj.)
  • trade show (n., adj.)
    Added on July 22, 2011
  • trainwreck (n.)
  • trans fat (n.)
  • trash-talking (n., adj., v.), trash-talker (n.)
    Added on October 22, 2010
  • traveler (n.); traveled, traveling (v.)
    The preferred U.S. spelling has one l. The preferred British spelling has two l’s.
  • Trojan horse
    Note capitalization.
  • troubleshoot
  • turnout (n.), turn out (v.)
    One word when used as a noun: We expect a huge voter turnout. Two words when used as a verb: Let’s see how many voters turn out for this election.
  • TV
    Abbreviation is always OK. Plural: TVs.
  • tweet (n., v.)
    Lowercase when referring to a message sent via Twitter or to the action of sending such a message. Past tense: tweeted.
    Added on October 20, 2010
  • TWiki
    An open-source platform for online collaboration. Note capital W. As a trademark, TWiki should be used as an adjective, not a noun.
    Added on October 22, 2010
  • Twitter (n., adj.)
    Capitalize when referring to the microblogging site. attn. Do not use as a verb to refer to communicating on Twitter—use tweet instead.
    Added on October 22, 2010
  • two-thought compounds
    Close up adjectives that denote two aspects of, or factors affecting, the modified noun and whose first element is a combining form that cannot stand alone. Examples: electromagnetic, psychosomatic, socioeconomic. Close up two-thought compound nouns as well: docudrama. Exceptions: Hyphenate compounds in which the elements are proper adjectives: Judeo-Christian, Franco-American. Also hyphenate temporary, ad hoc compounds: socio-artistic.
    Added on January 21, 2011

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.
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