Wiktionary:Featured word candidates (comment)/guidelines

This is proposed guidelines for nominations at WOTD. These are under development.

Suggestions on how to nominate

Words that are selected as Word Of The Day (WOTD) are intended to demonstrate the best of Wiktionary's definition and to help readers improve their vocabulary.

• If the word is not defined in the wiktionary (which means it will be displayed as a redlink) then it probably belongs at Wiktionary:Requested entries instead of at WOTD. (Remember that Wiktionary links are case-sensitive.)
• The word should be unusual enough that it adds to readers' vocabularies (the word the may have an interesting entry but it isn't really an addition) but not so odd that people can't use it in common converation. People trying to build their vocabulary will try to use the word during the course of the day. If the word were antidisestablishmentarianism could you use it in a sentence even if we told you what it means?
• The word should be useful. Words that have only extremely technical, obsolete or esoteric meanings are hard to use in conversation and so will generally not be selected. Remember that people have four different vocabularies: the words they say, they words they understand when they hear them, the words they write and the words they understand when they read them. Technical terms pertaining to language and writing may be considered, since this is an on-line dictionary. Also, words that are obsolete but occur commonly in standard English literature, and may be encountered in reading, may be selected as WOTD entries.
• Avoid profanity. Again, people will try to use the word during the course of the day. It should not be a word that will offend people or that you'd be embarrassed to use in front of your boss or your mother. Wiktionary defines profane words, in part so people know not to use them in polite company; it doesn't recommend these words as things that should necessarily be said.
• Words that have already been used as WOTD, or that are closely related to such words, will be ignored as nominations for a period of time.
• Abbreviations, initialisms and symbols are unlikely to be selected.