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Checking Oxford Dictionaries Online, I find the noun blacklist, written as one word, and the noun white list, written as two. There is no black list defined as a compound written open, and there is no whitelist written closed-up.

Why this inconsistency in spelling? How did blacklist end up being written as one word, but white list as two, when they are exact counterparts of each other?

Sven Yargs
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Basem_V
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  • https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/white_list – Andrew Leach Sep 05 '17 at 08:18
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    Whitelist is widely used as a verb and a noun. Blacklist is probably older, though, which may explain why it made it to the dictionaries quicker. – oerkelens Sep 05 '17 at 08:29
  • sorry, I believe I wasn't clear regarding the question. The point was why is there white list but not whitelist when there is Blacklist but black list as well. Seems arbitrary! – Basem_V Sep 05 '17 at 08:41
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    If you have a look at the examples at my link, whitelist is used as single-word verb. If you need to clarify your question, please edit it. – Andrew Leach Sep 05 '17 at 08:44
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because the OP missed that whitelist the verb is listed, and whether "white list" (the noun) is written as two words or one is not answerable. – Mari-Lou A Sep 05 '17 at 09:17
  • I disagree with the close vote. It's an interesting observation that the dictionary lists "blacklist" but "white list" for two related concepts. Note: the OP has now disambiguated that he is specifically focusing on the nouns. (That being said, I disagree with the dictionary in this case, "whitelist" is commonly used as a noun too.) – Flater Sep 05 '17 at 11:47
  • As a counter to your suggestion that "black list" feels more natural, consider the (fictional) example of the Matrix' "red pill" and "blue pill". They are separate words when referring to the pills themselves (as they literally have this color), but when later referring to people who are either part of the Matrix or have been set free, they are referring to as redpills and bluepills. I'm aware this is a fictional example, but it showcases a general intent to avoid literal interpretation of color. – Flater Sep 05 '17 at 11:55
  • Why is there a mother's day and a father's day but not a children's day? – Mitch Sep 05 '17 at 14:42
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    Some other dictionaries do show "whitelist" as a possible spelling of the noun: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/whitelist – herisson Sep 05 '17 at 14:52
  • I have voted to close the question because as written it is confusing and the first part of it appears to ask a different thing than the last part of it. – Arm the good guys in America Sep 05 '17 at 14:56
  • @Mitch That’s not what this is asking about. This question would be akin to asking why dictionaries have mothersday but father’s day. It’s a good question. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Sep 05 '17 at 14:56
  • As for the spelling of the noun white list, that's just, how it's commonly done these days; although such open compounds are likely to close over time, and whitelist is the given spelling in certain uses – Arm the good guys in America Sep 05 '17 at 14:59
  • @Basem_V I have edited your question to make clearer what your main question is (as clarified by you in a comment) and to remove the part of it that was primarily opinion-based and would probably have gotten the question put on hold as being off-topic. If you disagree with the edit, feel free to roll it back, but keep in mind that the original question was not clear and well on its way to being put on hold. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Sep 05 '17 at 15:03
  • I retracted my closevote after the edit by Janus. – Arm the good guys in America Sep 05 '17 at 15:11
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    But there's really not much of a why to it other than that's how it's currently done but the spelling of compounds changes over time. – Arm the good guys in America Sep 05 '17 at 15:12
  • @JanusBahsJacquet Oh. Changing the title makes that clearer. Even so, I think the term 'whitelist' with no space 'exists' anyway. – Mitch Sep 05 '17 at 15:42
  • Also, see alternatives to blacklist and whitelist – Mitch Sep 05 '17 at 15:43

1 Answers1

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According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fifth edition (2011), whitelist is spelled closed up both as a noun and as a verb, just as blacklist is. But that is merely one dictionary's judgment of where the spellings of the two words stand today.

The broader question remains, Why are some words spelled open while others are spelled closed, despite being composed of very similar parts? In AHDEL, for example, we find the preferred spellings black fly and whitefly. Why?

The answer is that orthography is not determined, first or last, by a centralized committee on consistent and rational spelling. The dictionaries may seem to play that role—and Noah Webster, for one, did seem to view his mission as a lexicographer in that light—but in reality they are in the business of reporting the preponderance of actual usage, not the form that is most consistent with other, similar spellings or with etymological analysis.

Terms come into use in different parts of the English-speaking world at different times, and their spelling is subject to further change as they become more familiar and more widely recognized. To some extent, they reflect related spelling conventions (so you wouldn't expect the spelling blakflie to catch on), but at some point the marketplace of users decides which form or forms will be dominant in writing—at which point the dictionaries simply report reality as they find it. For an example of this phenomenon you need look no farther than the entry for white list (rendered as two words) in the fourth edition of AHDEL (2000).

Especially as terms become more familiar to the readers, they become susceptible to losing letter spaces (if rendered initially as two words) or hyphens (if initially hyphenated). However, this is by no means a thoroughly predictable phenomenon either. For example, I have been expecting for at least twenty years that dictionaries will follow common industry (and some popular) usage and identify healthcare as the primary spelling of that term—but it still hasn't happened.

Sven Yargs
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