Weirdly enough
abluted has always been acceptable as a Chi word, but not
ablute or
abluting. Obviously the much better known
ablution is accepted, and is a common word.
I would have guessed
ablute was a fairly recent coinage, as a jocular back-formation from
ablution. But I'd be wrong! It's been around since at least 1703. It's listed in a few dictionaries, including the online Merriam-Webster and the Shorter Oxford.
The word is not used very often and, as the following extract from the Telegraph, UK, in 2010 demonstrates, not everybody knows what it means:
Last month, Davina McCall, the presenter of Big Brother, said she didn't like her children to watch television because it's "not good for them".
I remembered this remark on Friday night when, during the last ever episode of Celebrity Big Brother, McCall interviewed the actress Stephanie Beacham, one of the show's contestants. Beacham mentioned that she and her fellow contestant Ivana Trump had spent a lot of time "abluting".
McCall turned to the camera and, presumably for the benefit of younger viewers who might not be familiar with the word, explained: "It means 'talking'."
I do hope McCall's children weren't watching.
Ablute and
abluting will be allowed as rare words.