What is a Union Word™?

Question

_{This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.}

After a long period of division, tends to unite; After a long period of union, tends to divide. This has been so since antiquity. - The Three Kingdoms

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

Union Words™	Not Union Words™
ARGUMENT	PARAMETER
DEUCE	DRAW
PANASONIC	HITACHI
CANESUGAR	HONEY
FRAGMENT	SCRAP
NORTH	SOUTH
BRANCH	DIVISION
INDEX	EXPONENT
BELLY	BACK
SAUCEPAN	WOK

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

Union Words™,Not Union Words™
ARGUMENT,PARAMETER
DEUCE,DRAW
PANASONIC,HITACHI
CANESUGAR,HONEY
FRAGMENT,SCRAP
NORTH,SOUTH
BRANCH,DIVISION
INDEX,EXPONENT
BELLY,BACK
SAUCEPAN,WOK

Hint 1:

Nation

One that can only be used exclusively with other Union words, else it will go on strike? — Chronocidal, Jul 26 '19 at 09:16

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 25 '19 at 16:44

10

A Union Word is a

Word whose first three letters are a valid Alpha-3 country code.

ARGUMENT

ARG -> Argentina

DEUCE

DEU -> Germany

PANASONIC

PAN -> Panama

CANESUGAR

CAN -> Canada

FRAGMENT

FRA -> France

NORTH

NOR -> Norway

BRANCH

BRA -> Brazil

INDEX

IND -> India

BELLY

BEL -> Belgium

SAUCEPAN

SAU -> Saudi Arabia

answered Jul 25 '19 at 16:44

El-Guest

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Are you serious? Not again! :P – Cloudy7 Jul 25 '19 at 16:47
Not only country code but also those example are all in the UNIted natiON :P – Conifers Aug 07 '19 at 08:01

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 25 '19 at 16:45

7

Here's my guess:

A Union Word™ is a word which has its first three letters align with the three-letter abbreviation of a country name.

Evidence:

Argument --> Argentina, Deuce --> Germany, Panasonic --> Panama, Canesugar --> Canada, Fragment --> France, North --> Norway, Branch --> Brazil, Index --> India, Belly --> Belize, Saucepan --> Saudi Arabia

answered Jul 25 '19 at 16:45

Cloudy7

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Great answer, but I think you've been barely ninjaed! Great minds think alike... – El-Guest Jul 25 '19 at 16:46
Belize was the one that initially tripped me up too -- but Belize is actually BLZ! – El-Guest Jul 25 '19 at 16:50
I forgot all about that nation! (I was thinking of soccer and the World Cup as I was answering the puzzle.) – Cloudy7 Jul 25 '19 at 16:56
But FIFA have their own, slightly different system. I like the close misses in the counterexamples: parameter and honey. – M Oehm Jul 25 '19 at 17:02
Parameter annoyed me because I thought it was just first three letters at first, but the first non-Union word was a counterexample! I didn’t actually realize the official ones were PRY and HND for those two, respectively. – El-Guest Jul 25 '19 at 18:36
Would you like a bounty reward for your efforts since you have the correct answer, but have been ninja'd? ;) – Mr Pie Aug 07 '19 at 03:24
@Cloudy7 still a nice work :P – Conifers Aug 07 '19 at 07:59
@MrPie No, please don't bother. I can always solve other problems ;) – Cloudy7 Aug 07 '19 at 20:26

What is a Union Word™?

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