docs: def sanitize_word(word):
      """
      sanitize a word by removing its accents, special characters, etc
      """
      # use an unicode string for `unidecode`
      if type(word) == str:
          try:
              word = word.decode()
          except AttributeError:
              pass  # Python3
  
      # remove trailing spaces
      word = word.strip()
  
      # remove stuff between parentheses
      word = re.sub(r'\([^)]*\)', '', word)
  
      # remove accents, hyphens & other special chars
      word = re.sub(r'[ "\'-;.]+', '', unidecode(word))
  
      # only lowercase
      return word.lower()