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The Hacker's Dictionary

A.K.A. The 'Jargon File'

The Hacker's Dictionary is "...a comprehensive compendium of hacker slang illuminating many aspects of hackish tradition, folklore, and humor..." The dictionary is an offshoot of the original Jargon File created in 1983 by Guy Steele. Since that time it has become the source for the book "The New Hacker's Dictionary." It has been updated, revised, reworked, changed, squeezed, diff'd, and hacked-on for years. The text is in the public domain, to be freely used, shared, and modified.

Official site

The dictionary is currently maintained by the famous Eric S. Raymond. Click here for his Jargon File page.

Word Search

If you wish to prove your geekhood, you may download and study the 1996 edition of The Jargon File and then try to take the word search. Every day, the puzzle is updated with random entries from the Jargon File. There are two versions: The easy version is for newbies, while the hard version is better for the truly old-skool geeks. (I am not one of them, I miserably fail at it consistently).

Weak Nerd: Easy puzzle
Try the easy puzzle


uber-Nerd: Hard puzzle
Try the hard puzzle