The word "box" isn't in /usr/share/dict/words

I was testing some code that I wrote to solve the New York Times' "Letter Boxed" game. The other day, it was giving results that included compound words containing "box" (e.g., "icebox"), but not the word "box" itself.

At first, I thought there was a bug in my code. However, I checked /usr/share/dict/words and -- lo and behold -- "box" isn't in there. According to the README file alongside the word list, this is from FreeBSD, circa 1993.

Is this intentional, or just an honest omission? What other common words are missing from this file? Has FreeBSD conceded to the existence of boxes in the last ~30 years, even if Apple hasn't?

Solution 1:

From /usr/share/dict/README

Welcome to web2 (Webster's Second International) all 234,936 words worth. The 1934 copyright has lapsed, according to the supplier. The supplemental 'web2a' list contains hyphenated terms as well as assorted noun and adverbial phrases. The wordlist makes a dandy 'grep' victim.

So "box" wasn't part of the list the file is based an. This page implies that modern use started with World War II which would explain why it was not included in an earlier dictionary.

For an updated list you may want to look at any of the Linux packages providing a similar file (see https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/33488/where-can-i-download-the-usr-dict-packages for a list of sources).