Vol. 01The dictionary of half words

Say less of every word.

Fantastic is fantas. Pencil is penc. The answer is awns. A living record of the half words — cut on the beat, never past the point of making sense.

Cut

Says the same thing, crushed as short as it can possibly go — once with AI, once without.

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Word of the day

II — The entries

The Dictionary

official half words, each one cut by hand and checked against the rules.

III — The rules

It has to make sense.

Anyone can chop a word. A half word is different: you should hear the whole thing in the part that's left.

  1. 01

    Cut on the beat.

    Every word has a rhythm. The cut lands at the end of a syllable — never in the middle of a sound.

    Yesfantastic → fantas

    Nofantastic → fant

  2. 02

    Land on a hard stop.

    End on a consonant you can actually stop on. Hanging vowels sound like you got interrupted.

    Yespencil → penc

    Nopencil → pe

  3. 03

    Keep the root.

    Someone hearing it for the first time should know the word. Spell it how it sounds if you have to.

    Yesanswer → awns

    Noanswer → a

  4. 04

    Short words stay whole.

    Four letters or one beat? It's already done. Cutting it just makes a different word.

    Yesokay → okay

    Nookay → oh

IV — Speak dict

Got a whole paragraph?

Honestly that presentation was absolutely fantastic.

Honestly that presen was absol fantas.

Shorten a sentence