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This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.


If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Written Word™.
Use the following examples below to find the rule.

Written Words™ Not Written Words™
GOOD BAD
JANUARY DECEMBER
HAPPY SAD
JOKER CLOWN
GRAVEYARD GRAVE
HYPER SUPER
EIGHT SEVEN
EGYPT ISRAEL
POLICEMAN FIREMAN
QUINTET TRIO

And, if you want to analyze, here is a CSV version:

Written Words™,Not Written Words™
GOOD,BAD
JANUARY,DECEMBER
HAPPY,SAD
JOKER,CLOWN
GRAVEYARD,GRAVE
HYPER,SUPER
EIGHT,SEVEN
EGYPT,ISRAEL
POLICEMAN,FIREMAN
QUINTET,TRIO
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1 Answer 1

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I think that a Written Word satisfies the property that

If we write the word in lower case, it contains components which extend both above and below the standard x-height margins. In other words, the "height" of these words is more than two x-heights.

Examples

"january" has descenders 'j' and 'y' which go below the line and the dot on the j which appears above.
"grave" is not a Written Word because it just has a descender but "graveyard" also ascends at the 'd' which makes it a Written Word.
"quintet" has the descender 'q' and, even though it's not generally considered an "ascender", 't' which does extend above the top x-height margin.

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  • $\begingroup$ You got it, nice work~ :P $\endgroup$
    – Conifers
    Commented Aug 5, 2019 at 16:10

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