1

I'm working on a product where you can enable an upload user (or uploaduser?) which is a special user that has upload privileges.

I'm not a native english speaker and I cannot figure out whether it should be written as one or two words. In my language it would be one word.

I found this article where I learned that compound words in english can actually be two words (open compounds): https://www.grammarly.com/blog/open-and-closed-compound-words/

But since the word "superuser" is written in one word I feel like uploaduser should as well as they are analogue in terms of what they do and how they are used. But I suppose superuser is more common and has had time to be adopted into becoming a closed compound? But that's introduces an annoying inconsistency if I want to ask whether to apply "superuser" or "upload user" privileges to a user.

zkwsk
  • 111
  • 2
    Why you want to write Upload User or Uploaduser privileges? It sounds very unnatural. Writing Upload privileges is readily understood and sounds natural. If it is required, then write Upload-User privileges. So, that everyone understand that Upload-User acts as a single unit. – Ubi.B Apr 08 '19 at 13:19
  • 2
    As you say, “superuser” is gaining acceptance, and “enduser” seems to be starting to follow. Maybe in ten or twenty years there will be many ‘‘xxxxuser’’ compounds that are accepted as words, but, for today, I agree with @Ubi hatt — ‘‘Uploaduser’’ would not be regarded as natural by most English speakers. – Scott - Слава Україні Apr 08 '19 at 16:30
  • @Ubihatt the last part may not have been completely clear. I don't currently have anywhere in the interface where I type "add upload user privileges", but I have an interface for creating an "upload user". If I would have a place to add upload privileges to an upload user, I would also stick to calling it "add upload privileges". – zkwsk Apr 09 '19 at 14:33
  • Given that the correct writing is "upload user", imagine that I have a tab with the headline "upload user". How does the user distinguish that this is the tab for editing your upload user preferences and not a tab for uploading a user? – zkwsk Apr 09 '19 at 14:34

0 Answers0