diff --git a/core/words/words.factor b/core/words/words.factor
index 3fa4baaff8..c791829ede 100644
--- a/core/words/words.factor
+++ b/core/words/words.factor
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ M: word reset-word
     ] tri ;
 
 : <word> ( name vocab -- word )
-    2dup [ hashcode ] bi@ bitxor >fixnum (word) dup new-word ;
+    2dup swap ":" glue hashcode >fixnum (word) dup new-word ;
 
 : <uninterned-word> ( name -- word )
     f \ <uninterned-word> counter >fixnum (word)