Permitted Words

These are the criteria that have been applied in creating the Ozlip word list.

Only three- and four-letter words are allowed.
The QU combination is treated as a single letter, so five-letter words with a Q are allowed. (And the word list has no words with a Q not followed by a U.)
Abbreviations are not allowed if normally written with capitals or a punctuation mark, or if unpronounceable (for example MGT) or pronounced as a sequence of letters (for example TKO). Other words that originated as abbreviations are allowed (for example AMMO).
Slang and colloquial words are allowed. There has been no expurgation of words that might be considered offensive for one reason or another.
Words normally spelt with an initial capital letter are not allowed.
Foreign words are allowed if they are included in English dictionaries, not in italics.
A word is not allowed if it only ever appears as part of a phrase.
Interjections may be included (for example AHA).
Very obscure words are not necessarily allowed even if they are in some dictionaries (for example RHE, a unit of fluidity, is not recognized).
Both British and American spellings are included if they are in fairly wide use in Australia (for example GAOL and JAIL).

The words classed as Australian are listed in the Ozlip Dictionary. Some of them are words not used in other English speaking countries (e.g. SOOK). Others are words used in standard English but used with a distinctive meaning in Australia (e.g. RAGE, which, in addition to its international meanings, also means a party or a really good time in Australia.) See the Explanation of the Dictionary for more information about the Australian word list.

You can submit your own suggestions of words for either the Australian list or the general list.