--- title: "Add words to the Grafana Labs dictionary | Writers' Toolkit documentation" description: "How to add a word to the Grafana Labs dictionary template." --- > For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt). # Add words to the Grafana Labs dictionary The Grafana Labs documentation team maintains a dictionary used for spell checking. The same dictionary is used to generate some Vale rules from the metadata in the word definition. The template file uses the [Jsonnet](https://jsonnet.org) programming language but you don’t need to know Jsonnet to add a new word. Unlike YAML, Jsonnet isn’t sensitive to whitespace. This topic explains how to perform the following tasks: - [Add a general word (noun, verb, or adjective)](#add-a-general-word-noun-verb-or-adjective) - [Add a product name](#add-a-product-name) - [Add an abbreviation](#add-an-abbreviation) For more complicated words, if you’re comfortable with writing Jsonnet, refer to [word metadata reference](/docs/writers-toolkit/review/lint-prose/dictionary/#word-metadata). If you’re not comfortable writing Jsonnet, [create an issue](https://github.com/grafana/writers-toolkit/issues/new?title=Grafana.Spelling%20%3A%20%3CWORD%3E), and a maintainer can add it for you. ## Before you begin - Clone the [Writers’ Toolkit repository](https://github.com/grafana/writers-toolkit). For more information, refer to [Create a local repository](/docs/writers-toolkit/write/tooling-and-workflows/#create-a-local-repository). - Create a branch for your change. For more information, refer to [Create a branch from the default remote branch](/docs/writers-toolkit/write/tooling-and-workflows/#create-a-branch-from-the-default-remote-branch). ## Add a general word (noun, verb, or adjective) A noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing. A verb generally describes an action. Adjectives describe nouns. ### Steps To add a general word: 1. Open the `vale/dictionary/.jsonnet` template file in your editor where *`LETTER`* is the first letter of the word you want to add. 2. Add a line for your word definition. Your line goes in the array, between the other entries. Entries look like the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new(, , ), ``` The entries are ordered alphabetically. 3. Fill out the required fields *``* , *``* , and *``* . 1. Replace *``* with the word stem. This is the word without any prefixes or suffixes. For the verb *downsampling*, the stem is *downsample*. You must put the word stem between single quotes (`'`). Your line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('downsample', , ), ``` 2. Replace *``* with the concatenation of the Hunspell affixes. To learn which affixes you can add, refer to the [Hunspell affixes table](/docs/writers-toolkit/review/lint-prose/dictionary/#hunspell-affixes). You must put the affixes between single quotes (`'`). To add affixes for the past tense and gerund forms, your line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('downsample', 'DG', ), ``` 3. Replace *``* with the part of speech. For verbs, this is `'verb'`. For nouns, this is `'noun'`. For adjectives, this is `'adjective'`. Your completed line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('downsample', 'DG', 'verb'), ``` 4. If the word isn’t well known, extend the definition to include a description: `description: `. The description should define the word. Your line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('downsample', 'DG', 'verb') { description: 'To reduce the sampling rate of a signal.' }, ``` ## Add a product name A product can be a Grafana Labs’ product, another company’s product, or the name of a project. ### Steps To add a product: 1. Open the `vale/dictionary/.jsonnet` template file in your editor where *`LETTER`* is the first letter of the word you want to add. 2. Add a line for your word definition. Your line goes in the array, between the other entries. Entries look like the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new(, , ), ``` The entries are ordered alphabetically. 3. Fill out the required fields *``* , *``* , and *``* . 1. Replace *``* with the word stem. For products, this is the product name. jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('CloudWatch', , ), ``` 2. Replace *``* with the concatenation of the Hunspell affixes. Products generally have no affixes. jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('CloudWatch', '', ), ``` 3. Replace *``* with the part of speech. For products, this is `'noun'`. Your line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('CloudWatch', '', 'noun'), ``` 4. Extend the definition to indicate it’s a product. Add the object `{ product: true }` between the right bracket (`)`), and the end of line comma (`,`). Your line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('CloudWatch', '', 'noun') { product: true }, ``` 5. If the product is an Amazon product, extend the definition to include this. Update the object to have an additional field, `Amazon: true`. Your line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('CloudWatch', '', 'noun') { Amazon: true, product: true }, ``` 6. Extend the definition to include a description: `description: `. The description should at least include a link to the product’s primary documentation. Your line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('CloudWatch', '', 'noun') { Amazon: true, description: 'https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/WhatIsCloudWatch.html', product: true }, ``` ## Add an abbreviation An abbreviation is a shortened form of a phrase. If the abbreviation is commonly known, like HTTP, you don’t need to explain it in your writing. You can say that the abbreviation is commonly known in your definition. ### Steps To add an abbreviation: 1. Open the `vale/dictionary/.jsonnet` template file in your editor where *`LETTER`* is the first letter of the word you want to add. 2. Add a line for your word definition. Your line goes in the array, between the other entries. Entries look like the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new(, , ), ``` The entries are ordered alphabetically. 3. Fill out the required fields *``* , *``* , and *``* . 1. Replace *``* with the word stem. For abbreviation, this is the abbreviation letters. jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('SUT', , ), ``` 2. Replace *``* with the concatenation of the Hunspell affixes. To learn which affixes you can add, refer to the [Hunspell affixes table](/docs/writers-toolkit/review/lint-prose/dictionary/#hunspell-affixes). You must put the affixes between single quotes (`'`). Some abbreviations have a plural suffix. To add the plural suffix, include `s`. All affixes are case sensitive. jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('SUT', 's', ), ``` 3. Replace *``* with the part of speech. For abbreviations, this is `'noun'`. Your line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('SUT', 's', 'noun'), ``` 4. Extend the definition to indicate it’s an abbreviation. Add the object `{ abbreviation: true }` between the right bracket (`)`), and the end of line comma (`,`). Your line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('SUT', 's', 'noun') { abbreviation: true }, ``` 5. Extend the definition to include a description: `description: `. The description should at least include the expanded abbreviation. Your line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('SUT', 's', 'noun') { abbreviation: true, description: 'System Under Test' }, ``` 6. If you don’t need to expand the abbreviation for the general reader, extend the definition to include this. Update the object to have an additional field, `established_abbreviation: true`. For the well-known abbreviation HTTP, your line should look similar to the following: jsonnet ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```jsonnet word.new('HTTP', '', 'noun') { abbreviation: true, description: 'Hypertext Transfer Protocol', established_abbreviation: true }, ```