Privacy policy

word·shift is a free tool for exploring word frequency in English books. This policy explains what data is collected when you use it and why.

Who we are

word·shift is an independent publishing tool. If you have any questions about this policy, please use the contact form.

What data we collect

word·shift does not require an account and does not collect any personal information from users.

When you use the tool, two types of data are processed automatically.

Server logs. Your IP address, browser type and the pages you request are recorded in standard server logs by our hosting provider, Namecheap. These logs are used to maintain the service and diagnose technical problems. They are not used to identify individual users and are deleted after 30 days.

Search terms. When you click a marked point on the chart to read a moment, the word and year you selected are sent to the Anthropic API to generate a historical annotation. This transmission includes only the word and year — no personal information is included. Anthropic processes this data in accordance with their API privacy policy. Annotations are cached on our server after the first request so the same word and year are not sent to Anthropic twice.

Cookies

WordPress, the platform this site runs on, may set functional cookies necessary for the site to operate. We do not use cookies for tracking or advertising purposes.

Third-party services

word·shift uses the following third-party services:

Google Books Ngram Viewer — provides the frequency data displayed in charts. Searches are routed through our own server and are not sent directly to Google from your browser.

Anthropic — provides the historical annotation text shown in the moments panel. Only the searched word and year are transmitted.

Free Dictionary API — provides word definitions shown in the moments panel. Your search term is sent directly from your browser to this service.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct or request deletion of any personal data we hold about you. As we do not collect personal data beyond standard server logs, there is typically nothing to access or delete. If you have a question about your data, contact us at [your contact email].

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of the page will reflect the most recent revision.

Last updated: June 2026