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In the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee, a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.

If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it an M-I Word™.
Use the examples below to find the rule.

M-I Words™ Not M-I Words™
DIE DICE
FOX HOUND
LOVE HATE
OASIS DESERT
ROUND SPHERE
MONEY CASH
PARADE CIRCUS
SPHINX EGYPT
BULLET TRIGGER
DESPAIR HOPE
FERRET RAT
WIZARD PICKPOCKET
DESSERT DINNER
MEANING SAYING
EXTERNAL INTERNAL
KEYBOARD CONTROLLER
GENERATION ANCESTRY
SCREWDRIVER HAMMER

And, if you want to analyse, here is a CSV version:

M-I Words™,Not M-I Words™
DIE,DICE
FOX,HOUND
LOVE,HATE
OASIS,DESERT
ROUND,SPHERE
MONEY,CASH
PARADE,CIRCUS
SPHINX,EGYPT
BULLET,TRIGGER
DESPAIR,HOPE
FERRET,RAT
WIZARD,PICKPOCKET
DESSERT,DINNER
MEANING,SAYING
EXTERNAL,INTERNAL
KEYBOARD,CONTROLLER
GENERATION,ANCESTRY
SCREWDRIVER,HAMMER

The puzzle satisfies the series' inbuilt assumption that each word can be tested for whether it is an M-I Word™ without relying on the other words.

These are not the only examples of M-I Words™, many more exist.

What is the special rule these words conform to?

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Home isn't an M-I word? Sad $\endgroup$
    – dcfyj
    Sep 20, 2017 at 12:12
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ "BULLET / TRIGGER // DESPAIR / HOPE" - someone is a fan of Danganronpa. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Sep 20, 2017 at 16:14
  • $\begingroup$ @dcfyj Home is an M/I word, not an M-I word :) $\endgroup$
    – Brian J
    Sep 20, 2017 at 17:50
  • $\begingroup$ @Deusovi, someone may be a little excited for Danganronpa V3. It's also the same developer behind the Zero Escape series, hence the words going in there. :P $\endgroup$
    – Alpha
    Sep 20, 2017 at 22:59

1 Answer 1

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An M-I Word™ is one which has a

digital root of nine when the word is summed using A=1 to Z=26.

Examples

DIE = 4 + 9 + 5 = 18 which has a digital root sum of 9 ( or, equivalently, is divisible by 9).

FOX = 45, LOVE = 54, OASIS = 63, ROUND = 72, MONEY =72, PARADE = 45, SPHINX = 90, BULLET = 72, DESPAIR = 72, FERRET = 72, WIZARD = 81, DESSERT = 90, MEANING = 63

They we called M-I Word™s because in

Roman numerals M-I = 1000 - 1 = 999, and the video game 999 involves a situation about special locks on numbered doors that are based on digital roots - thanks to Deusovi!

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ 99% (+1%) correct! $\endgroup$
    – Alpha
    Sep 20, 2017 at 22:56

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