diff --git a/glossy/README.md b/glossy/README.md
index ec7164c..5a04649 100644
--- a/glossy/README.md
+++ b/glossy/README.md
@@ -85,6 +85,10 @@ Each glossary entry supports the following fields:
 - `plural` (optional): Override automatic pluralization of short form
 - `longplural` (optional): Override automatic pluralization of long form
 
+Note that if you just want an entry with `short` and `long`, you can use the
+abbreviated syntax. In this case, they `key` is used as the short form, and its
+value is used as the long form. See `WWW` as an example below.
+
 You can also load glossary entries from a data file using #yaml(), #json(), or similar.
 
 For example, the above glossary could be in this YAML file:
diff --git a/glossy/src/gloss.typ b/glossy/src/gloss.typ
index a919350..3956ff3 100644
--- a/glossy/src/gloss.typ
+++ b/glossy/src/gloss.typ
@@ -10,21 +10,28 @@
 // with appropriate default values.
 //
 // Parameters:
+//   key: The key from the input dictionary
 //   entry (dictionary): Input dictionary containing at least 'short' and optionally
 //                      'long', 'plural', 'longplural', 'description', and 'group'
 //
+//   entry (string): If you pass a string to entry, we assume you're using the
+//                   abbreviated syntax `short: "long"`, where the `key` is used
+//                   for `short` and `entry` is used for `long`.
+//
 // Returns:
 //   dictionary: Normalized dictionary with all expected keys populated
 //
 // Throws:
-//   - If 'short' key is missing
+//   - If 'short' key is missing when using normal (non-abbreviated) syntax
 //   - If 'short' value is not a string
 //   - If 'short' value is an empty string
 //
 #let __normalize_entry(key, entry) = {
-  if (type(entry) == str){
+  // If it's a string, it's using the abbreviated syntax `short: "long"`.
+  if (type(entry) == str) {
     entry = (short: key, long: entry)
   }
+
   // Validate required fields
   if not "short" in entry {
     panic("Entry must contain a 'short' key")