Dictionary
A
dictionary is a list of words with their definitions, a list of characters with their
glyphs, or a list of words with corresponding words in other languages. In some languages, words can appear in many different forms, but only the
lemma form appears as the main word or headword in most dictionaries. Many dictionaries also provide
pronunciation information;
grammatical information; word derivations, histories, or
etymologies; illustrations; usage guidance; and examples in phrases or sentences. Dictionaries are most commonly found in the form of a book.
Today, dictionaries of most
languages with
alphabetic and syllabic
writing systems list words in alphabetical or some analogous
phonetic order.
In some languages, words are grouped together according to their true or purported origin ("root"), and these roots are arranged alphabetically. If English dictionaries were arranged like this, the words "import", "export", "support", "report", "porter", "port", "important" and "transportation" would all be listed under "
port". This
method has the advantage that all words of a
common origin are listed together, but the
disadvantage is that you have to know how to
disassemble all
prefixes of a word before you look it up. Some
Sanskrit dictionaries and all Arabic dictionaries work like this.
Dictionaries of languages using
ideographic writing systems, such as
Chinese and Japanese, may be sorted either according to one of numerous
schemes based on the component parts of the characters (number of
strokes, overall shape, or pronunciation of each letter), or according to the
pronunciation of the full words when spelled phonetically. Due to the unfamiliarity of Chinese speakers with
phonetic spellings, phonetic sorts are particularly unsuitable for Chinese dictionaries, while the fluency of Japanese speakers with kana makes kana spelling the most common and convenient method to sort Japanese dictionaries.
(See collation for more information on linguistic sorting).The first English alphabetical dictionary came out in
1604 and alphabetical ordering was a
rarity until the
18th century. Before alphabetical listings, dictionaries were organized by topic, i.e. a list of animals all together in one topic.
Dictionaries vary wildly in size and scope. A dictionary that attempts to cover as many words from a particular speech community as possible is called a
maximizing dictionary (e.g. the
Oxford English Dictionary), whereas a dictionary that attempts to cover only a limited selection of words from a speech community is called a
minimizing dictionary (e.g. a dictionary containing the 2000 most frequently used words in the English language).
There are many different types of dictionaries, including bilingual, multilingual, historical, biographical, and geographical dictionaries.
Bilingual dictionaries
In
bilingual dictionaries, each entry has translations of words in another language. For example, in a Japanese-English dictionary, the entry
tsuki has the corresponding English word,
moon. In dictionaries between English and a language using a non-
Roman script, entry words in the non-English language may be either printed and sorted in the native order, or
romanized and sorted in Roman alphabetical order.
Specialized dictionaries
Specialized dictionaries (also referred to as technical dictionaries) focus on linguistic and factual matters relating to specific subject fields. A
specialized dictionary may have a relatively broad coverage, e.g. a
picture dictionary, in that it covers several subject fields such as science and technology (a
multi-field dictionary), or their coverage may be more narrow, in that they cover one particular subject field such as law (a
single-field dictionary) or even a specific sub-field such as contract law (a
sub-field dictionary). Specialized dictionaries may be
maximizing dictionaries, i.e. they attempt to achieve comprehensive coverage of the terms in the subject field concerned, or they may be
minimizing dictionaries, i.e. they attempt to cover only a limited number of the specialized vocabulary concerned. Generally, multi-field dictionaries tend to be minimizing, whereas single-field and sub-field dictionaries tend to be maximizing. See also
LSP dictionary.
Character dictionaries
In East Asian languages, a dictionary form for
Han (Chinese) characters has developed, called
Kan-wa jiten (literally 'Han-Japanese dictionary') in Japanese and
Okpyeon ('Jewel Book') in Korean. Each entry has one Chinese character with information about
stroke count and order, readings (pronunciations), and a list of words using that character.
These characters are not arbitrary; they are composed of simpler characters, one of which is called the "radical", which indicates its category. The ordering of the characters in the dictionary is by radical, in order of the number of strokes in the radical. Characters using that radical are then ordered by the number of strokes added to the radical. To fit more strokes in a character, radicals can come in simplified variants, which have to be learned; for example, the character for "dog" is altered when it is used as the radical of the character for "cat".
Data dictionaries
Data sets and
databases collected and utilized for
statistical analyses are typically accompanied by, or able to be used to generate, a list of all
variable names used within the data set, as well as matters such as their meaning, values,
level of measurement, length, decimal allowances, and type (numeric, string, etc.)
Glossaries
Another variant is the
glossary, an alphabetical list of defined terms in a specialized field, such as medicine or science. The simplest dictionary, a
defining dictionary, provides a
core glossary of the simplest meanings of the simplest concepts. From these, other concepts can be explained and defined, in particular for those who are first learning a language. In English, the commercial defining dictionaries typically include only one or two meanings of under 2000 words. With these, the rest of English, and even the 4000 most common English
idioms and
metaphors, can be defined.
Prescription and description
Dictionary makers apply two basic philosophies to the defining of words:
prescriptive or descriptive. The
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is
descriptive, and attempts to describe the actual use of words.
Noah Webster, on the other hand, intent on forging a distinct identity for the
American language, altered spellings and accentuated differences in meaning and pronunciation of numerous words. This is why
American English now uses the spelling "color" while the rest of the world uses "colour". (See
American and British English differences.) While disapproved of in the UK, the US spellings are universally understood; likewise the British spellings are not acceptable in America.
While descriptivists argue that prescriptivism is an unnatural attempt to dictate usage or curtail change, prescriptivists argue that to indiscriminately document "improper" or "inferior" usages sanctions those usages by default and causes language to deteriorate. Although the debate can become very heated, only a small number of controversial words are usually affected. But the softening of usage notations, from the previous edition, for two words,
ain't and
regardless, out of over 450,000 in
Webster's Third in
1961, was enough to provoke outrage among many with prescriptivist leanings, who branded the dictionary as "permissive."
The prescriptive/descriptive issue has been given so much consideration in modern times that most dictionaries of English apply the descriptive method to definitions, while additionally informing readers of attitudes which may influence their choices on words often considered vulgar, offensive, erroneous, or easily confused.
Merriam-Webster is subtle, only adding italicized notations such as,
sometimes offensive or
nonstand (nonstandard.)
American Heritage goes further, discussing issues separately in numerous "usage notes."
Encarta provides similar notes, but is more prescriptive, offering warnings and admonitions against the use of certain words considered by many to be offensive or illiterate, such as, "an offensive term for..." or "a taboo term meaning..."
Because of the broad use of dictionaries, and their acceptance by many as language authorities, their treatment of the language does affect usage to some degree, even the most descriptive dictionaries providing conservative continuity. In the long run, however, usage primarily determines the meanings of words in English, and the language is being changed and created every day. As
Jorge Luis Borges says in the prologue to "El otro, el mismo":
"It is often forgotten that (dictionaries) are artificial repositories, put together well after the languages they define. The roots of language are irrational and of a magical nature."
Other variations
Since words and their meanings develop over time, dictionary entries are organized to reflect these changes. Dictionaries may either list meanings in the historical order in which they appeared, or may list meanings in order of popularity and most common use.
Dictionaries also differ in the degree to which they are
encyclopedic, providing considerable background information, illustrations, and the like, or
linguistic, concentrating on etymology, nuances of meaning, and quotations demonstrating usage.
Any dictionary has been designed to fulfil one or more functions. The dictionary functions chosen by the maker(s) of the dictionary provide the basis for all lexicographic decisions, from the selection of entry words, over the choice of information types, to the choice of place for the information (e.g. in an article or in an appendix). There are two main types of function. The communication-oriented functions comprise text reception (understanding), text production, text revision, and translation. The knowledge-oriented functions deal with situations where the dictionary is used for acquiring specific knowledge about a particular matter, and for acquiring general knowledge about something. The optimal dictionary is one that contains information directly relevant for the needs of the users relating to one or more of these functions. It is important that the information is presented in a way that keeps the
lexicographic information costs at a minimum.
The art and craft of writing dictionaries is called
lexicography.
One of the earliest dictionaries known, and which is still extant today in an abridged form, was written in
Latin during the reign of the emperor
Augustus. It is known by the title
De Significatu Verborum ("On the meaning of words") and was originally compiled by
Verrius Flaccus. It was twice abridged in succeeding centuries, first by
Festus, and then by
Paul the Deacon. Verrius Flaccus' dictionary was an abridged list of difficult or antiquated words, whose usage was illustrated by quotations from early Roman authors.
The
The Dictionary of Terms, from the early
3rd century BC, was the first
Chinese language dictionary. The book was first organized in
Chinese characters by
radical. The intention of this dictionary is to explain the true meaning and interpretation of words in the context of older ancient texts.
The first true English dictionary was Robert Cawdrey's
Table Alphabeticall of
1604, although it only included 3,000 words and the definitions it contained were little more than synonyms. The first one to be at all comprehensive was
Thomas Blount's dictionary
Glossographia of
1656. This was followed by
Samuel Johnson's famous and more complete dictionary of
1755.
In
1806, Noah
Webster's dictionary was published by the G&C Merriam Company of
Springfield, Massachusetts which still publishes
Merriam-Webster dictionaries, but the term
Webster's is considered generic and can be used by any dictionary.
The most complete dictionary of the English language is the
Oxford English Dictionary. The first edition was properly begun in 1860 and was completed in 1928, by which time a supplement that took an additional five years to complete was already necessary.
Also see
A Brief History of English LexicographyThe Irish mathematical physicist,
J. L. Synge, created a game,
Game of Circ, to emphasize the circular reasoning implicit in the defining process of any standard dictionary.
Arabic
*
Kitab al-Ayn*Al-Mawrid
*Al Monjid
*Al Mujam al waseet
*
Dictionary of Modern Written ArabicBreton
*
Geriadur Brezhoneg an HereBulgarian
*
New Spelling Dictionary of Bulgarian Language (Nov Pravopisen Rechnik na Balgarskiya Ezik, Institut za Balgarski Ezik, Sofiya, 2002)
Catalan
*
Diccionari de l'Enciclopèdia Catalana*
Diccionari de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans*
Diccionari català-valencià-balear (DCVB) d'A. M. Alcover i F. de B. MollChinese
*
Erya (爾雅), oldest extant Chinese dictionary
*
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字), first Chinese character dictionary
*
Kangxi dictionary (康熙字典), Qing Dynasty imperial dictionary
*
Rime dictionaries, listing characters by phonology
*
Xinhua zidian (新华字典), world's best-selling dictionary
Croatian
*
English-Croatian bi-directional on-line dictionaryDutch
*
Van Dale*
Online Nederlands WoordenboekEnglish
*
Oxford English Dictionary (descriptive)
*
Concise Oxford Dictionary*
New Oxford Dictionary of English*
New Oxford American Dictionary*
Canadian Oxford Dictionary*
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language*
ITP Nelson Canadian Dictionary*
Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary*
Samuel Johnson's
A Dictionary of the English Language (prescriptive)
*
Noah Webster's
An American Dictionary of the English Language (prescriptive)
*
Webster's Third New International Dictionary (descriptive)
*
The Century Dictionary*
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable*
Macquarie Dictionary, The, a dictionary of
Australian English*
Chambers Dictionary*
Collins COBUILD*
Collins English Dictionary*
Gage Canadian Dictionary*
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English*
Black's Law Dictionary, a
law dictionary*
Law Dictionary - includes legal terms from the Bouvier Law Dictionary.
*
W3Dictionary - incorporates several popular and reliable dictionaries into one online source.
*
Dean's Law Dictionary - created by artificial intelligence with over 185,000 terms and 300,000 case cites.
French
*
Le dictionnaire de l'Académie française (prescriptive)
*
Dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française ("Le Robert") (descriptive)
**
Petit Robert (abridgement)
*Le Trésor de la Langue Française Informatisé (TLFi) http://atilf.atilf.fr/tlf.htm (free online comprehensive dictionary)
*
Dictionnaire de la langue française (Littré)*
Lexis, Dictionnaire Larousse de la langue française*Dictionnaire des synonymes http://elsap1.unicaen.fr/cgi-bin/cherches.cgi (University of Caen)
*Atlas Sémantique http://dico.isc.cnrs.fr/ (free online Fr-En/En-Fr dictionary, English thesaurus, French thesaurus by CNRS)
*Le dictionnaire http://www.le-dictionnaire.com
*Annuaire des dictionnaires français http://www.les-dictionnaires.com
*Lexilogos http://www.lexilogos.com/index.htm (Website on dictionaries in languages from all over the world)
*Grand dictionnaire terminologique http://www.granddictionnaire.com/btml/fra/r_motclef/index800_1.asp (free online technical dictionary by Office de la Langue Française Québec)
*Dictionnaire Termium http://www.termium.gc.ca/ (online technical dictionary by Public Works and government Services Canada)
*Le dictionnaire universel d'Antoine Furetière (17th century, 3 volumes, 4,000 pages)
*Carlier, Dictionnaire des citations françaises (7,000 quotations)
*Pierre Oster, Dictionnaire de citations françaises (15,000 quotations)
*Thésaurus - des mots aux idées, des idées aux mots (Publisher: Larousse)
*Niobey, Dictionnaire analogique (Publisher: Larousse)
*Montreynaud, Dictionnaire de proverbes et dictons (Publisher: Le Robert, sayings and maxims)
German
*
Duden*
Der Große Muret Sanders by Langenscheidt
*
Deutsches Rechtswörterbuch http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~cd2/drw/
*
Deutsches Wörterbuch by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm http://www.dwb.uni-trier.de/
*Wörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache http://www.dwds.de/?woerterbuch=1&qu=
*
PONS Großwörterbuch EnglischHebrew
*The Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew
*
Even-Shoshan DictionaryHindi
*
Digital Dictionary of South Asia*
शब्दकोश (Shabadkosh)Italian
*
Dizionario Battaglia*
De Mauro Italian definition
*
FreeDict Italian«--»English
*
Garzanti Linguistica Italian definition, Italian«»French (free registration is required)
*
Lexibase Online Italian«»French*
Oxford Paravia Italian«--»English
*
Programma Dizionario Over 90 free dictionaries from/to Italian by
Dictionary Team*
slovnik.cz Italian«--»Czech
*
WordReference Italian«--»English
Japanese
Main article: Japanese dictionaries
* Shin Meikai kokugo jiten (新明解国語辞典), a medium-sized Japanese-Japanese dictionary
* Kōjien (広辞苑), a large, often quoted Japanese-Japanese dictionary
* Nihon Kokugo Daijiten (日本国語大辞典), the largest Japanese-Japanese dictionary, in 14 volumes
* Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary (小学館 プログレッシブ
英中辞典), a medium-sized
Japanese-English Dictionary
*
Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary (新'英大辞典), the largest Japanese-English Dictionary
*
Dai Kan-Wa jiten (大漢'辞典), a comprehensive
kanji dictionary containing about 50,000 characters.
Kinyarwanda
*
Iriza-Starter 2006: The 1st Kinyarwanda-English and English-Kinyarwanda Dictionary containing about 12,250 words entries in Kinyarwanda and 23,500 equivalents in English. The concerned dictionary is to be published soon, after being edited.
Maltese
*
English-Maltese Online Dictionary First English to Maltese dictionary (Language used in Malta)
Norwegian
*
Norsk OrdbokPolish
*
Aleksander Brückner,
Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language).
*
Kościuszko Foundation Dictionary, 2 vols. (English-Polish, Polish-English).
*
Słownik wyrazów obcych PWN (PWN Dictionary of Foreign Expressions).
*
Jan Stanisławski,
Great English-Polish, Polish-English Dictionary.
*
Michał Tasiemski,
Polsko-angielski słownik tłumaczący LexiTools (Multimedialny słownik frazeologiczny).
Portuguese
*
Novo Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (Dicionário Aurélio)
*
Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa*
Michaelis*
Dicionário do Português Contemporâneo (Lisbon Academy of Sciences)
*
Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (Porto Editora)
*
PriberamRomanian
*
Dicţionarul explicativ al limbii române [
1]
*
Online Romanian-English dictionaryRussian
*
Vladimir Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language
*
Sergei Ozhegov's Dictionary of the Russian Language (
Slovar' Russkogo Yazyka)
*Dictionary of International Words (
Slovar' Inostrannykh Slov)
Spanish
* Diccionario de la
Real Academia Española [
2]
* Diccionario de uso del español de
María MolinerSerbian
*
English-Serbian bidirectional on-line dictionarySwedish
*
Svenska Akademiens Ordbok*
Svenska Akademiens OrdlistaTurkish
*
Türkçe Sözlük (Turkish Language Dictionary)*
Multilingual Dictionary (Turkish to DE, EN, ES, FR, IT, NL, PT, and more...)Urdu
*
Feroze ul LughatEnglish into Urdu Dictionaryhttp://www.urduseek.com/
Publishers
*
Cambridge University Press*
Chambers Harrap*
Collins*
Funk and Wagnalls*
Merriam-Webster*
Oxford University Press*
Longman*
Państwowe Wydawnictwo NaukoweOnline versions of printed dictionaries
*
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary*
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary*
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary etc. (Cambridge Dictionaries Online)*
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English*
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary 4th edition (note: Korean site, but all results in English)
*
Talking, fully crosslinked dictionary using Webster, Wiktionary and Wikipedia*
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language Fourth Edition*
The Oxford English Dictionary (requires subscription)
*
The Macquarie Dictionary Australian English (requires subscription)
*
Four Japanese Dictionaries*
Kenkyusha Online Dictionary Japanese dictionary (requires subscription)
*
Lexibase Online Multilingual dictionaries for German, Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and English
Online-only general dictionaries
*
Oxid Online Dictionary Free Online English Dictionary and Thesaurus containing definitions, explanations, synonyms, antonyms, meanings, idioms, words and terms using Merriam Websters Dictionary, Wordnet Reference and Roget's Thesaurus Definitions.
*
Dictionary.com A dictionary and thesaurus and other language aids.
*
Dictionary.co.uk A British English online dictionary.
*
Dictionary Definition*
eLook Dictionary A dictionary with synonyms, antonyms, and related words.
*
English dictionary Fast and simple English dictionary with US and UK spellings.
*
Freesearch dictionary British English dictionary provided by Cambridge University.
*
hyperdictionary.com One of the more comprehensive online dictionaries.
*
Lookword free online Dictionary English dictionary.
*
Misspelled.com Dictionary Definitions of English Words
*
TheFreeDictionary.com A dictionary, a thesaurus, a literature reference library, and a search engine all in one.
*
ObjectGraph.com Suggestive dictionary, suggests words as you type.
*
Portuguese dictionary*
WordWebOnline.com A dictionary/thesaurus and meta-search
*
Polish-English-Polish Translating Dictionary LexiTools
*
Lexibase Online English Dictionary, Thesaurus and more...
*
Online Dictionary Definitions*
Cape Zone Free Online Dictionary with Flickr images related to search terms
*
Digital Dictionary of South Asia (Hindi)*
Red Dictionary Several online dictionaries in one page.
*
शब्दकोष (Shabdakosh)Dictionary Collections
*
Dicorama French dictionary directory
*
A-Z-Dictionaries Directory of Dictionaries
*
All free dictionaries project Project maintaining free dictionaries for more than 50 world languages.
*
Dictionary directory*
Foreignword Searches translation dictionary sites.
*
Liendex One request creates more than 60 URL that reach the main English language resources.
*
OneLook Searches almost 1000 online dictionaries for more than 6 million indexed words.
Specialty Dictionaries
*
Ambrose Bierce,
The Devil's Dictionary.
*
Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon German-English bidirectional visual dictionary
*
Double-Tongued Word Wrester A dictionary of new and old words from the fringes of English
*
Danish-English Accounting Dictionary The authoritative dictionary on Danish and English accouting terminology with collocations and phrases.
*
Danish-English Law Dictionary On-line dictionary covering Danish and English legal language
*
The Early Modern English Dictionaries Database A collection of the earliest English language dictionaries
*
Pseudodictionary Slang, colloquialisms, and made-up words.
*
The Skeptic's Dictionary Dictionary taking a cynical view on
new age and
occult words.
*
Urban Dictionary Slang dictionary that you can edit.
*
Financial Dictionary English-Spanish Financial Dictionary
*
Accounting Dictionary English-Spanish Accounting Dictionary
*
Zargan English-Turkish Dictionary Zargan is an initiative for gathering, developing and publishing resources on the Turkish language.
Multilingual Dictionaries
*
Basic Computer dictionary (English, Chinese, Japanese, Trilingual dictionary) Downloadable GIF pages by iyoway.jp
*
Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian-English Dictionary*
Catalan Dictionaries Catalan-English, English-Catalan dictionary
*
Chinese - French Dictionary -
Chinese - Spanish Dictionary -
Chinese - English Dictionary*
Chinese-English Talking Dictionary Chinese - English dictionary with word and character etymological decomposition.
*
Collins Lexibase Online Multilingual dictionaries based on authoritative content such as HarperCollins dictionaries and Lexibase technology: German, Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, English dictionary & thesaurus and more …
*
Croatian-English and English-Croatian Dictionary *
dict.cc - English-German (and vice-versa) Dictionary
*
DIX: bi-directional English-Spanish (95.000 entries), Spanish-German (180.000), and German-English dictionary (360.000)
*
e-DICT English-Polish, Polish-English dictionary
*
English French Spanish German Dictionary*
English-French-English Dictionary*
English-German Dictionary (and vice-versa) with
IPA pronunciation information
*
English-Hindi Dictionary*
English-Italian Dictionary*
English - Spanish Specialized Dictionaries Finance and Accounting Terms
*
ilexer - English-German (and vice-versa) Dictionary
*
Italian English Dictionary- one directional dictionary with 20,000 entries
*
Italian-English Online Dictionary- bidirectional dictionary contains over 20,000 entries
*
Leo - English-German (and vice-versa) dictionary; German-French (and vice-versa) dictionary; German-Spanisch (and vice-versa) dictionary
*
LookWAYup dictionary Online English dictionary, translation to and from 5 European languages
*
Majstro Multilingual Translation Dictionary*
Malay-Chinese Dictionary*
Online dictionary Multi-lingual online dictionary between English and one of nine other languages
*
POPjisyo Online Japanese/Chinese/Korean/English dictionary
*
Serbian-English and English-Serbian Dictionary*
Sprawk Semantic Dictionary, based on WordNet with over 20 languages
*
Terminology database of the EU, with 11
EU languages
*
Universal dictionary Multilingual dictionary interconnecting more than 35 languages.
*
Universal dictionary system System interconnecting more than 40 world languages based on WordNet thesaurus.
*
Webster's Online Dictionary Rosetta Edition. Over 3,000,000 terms across 90 languages
*
woerterbuch.info - English-German Dictionary with over 600.000 translations
*
WWWJDIC online Japanese-English/German/French dictionary. Has text-glossing, verb conjugations, etc.
*
Yahoo! Spanish-English Dictionary*[
3] Multilingual dictionaries based on authoritative content such as HarperCollins dictionaries and Lexibase technology: German, Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, English dictionary & thesaurus and more
Downloadable Dictionaries
*
The Sage's English Dictionary and Thesaurus "Absolutely 100% free of charge" English Dictionary and Thesaurus.
*
Universal dictionary download - A database in which volunteers give each word from each language a number that indicates its meaning. By selecting any two languages a translating dictionary will result.
*
Online Plain Text English Dictionary – based on the Gutenberg Webster's Abridged Dictionary
*
The Gutenberg Webster's Abridged Dictionary – In parts. First 200 pages available without copyrights, rest available.
*
WordWeb Free international English dictionary for Windows (Pro version also available)
*
iFinger: FREE Merriam-Webster Concise Dictionary Free registration is required after clicking on
DOWNLOAD*
LingoPad - English-German / Spanish-German Dictionary for Windows (
Freeware)
*
owl - English<->German and French<->German dictionaries written in
dicML (program is
open source and dictionaries are free)
*
List of downloadable dictionaries - Collection of links onto free dictionaries
*
Prosonsoft " MP3 travel dictionary English / German / Spanish / French The
DICT protocol is a client/server model for dictionaries. Many free dictionaries are appearing in the dict format.
An
open content dictionary project is the
Collaborative International Dictionary of English, using
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) and
WordNet as its sources. The
GNU version of it,
GCIDE, is being developed collaboratively under the terms of the
GNU General Public License.
Other collaborative dictionary projects:
* Papillon Multilingual Dictionary with a Pivot Structure [
4] ("free of charge for non commercial use")
*
EDICT Digital Japanese-English dictionary. [
5]
*
Everything2 Contains, among other things, an entire
Webster 1913 dictionary
*
freedict Bilingual dictionaries, released under the
GPL*
PseudoDictionary New coinages and unusual words, mostly slang
*
Reading Tutor - Digital multilingual dictionary: Japanese-Japanese, Japanese-English, Japanese-German, Japanese-Dutch
*
Urban Dictionary Slang dictionary
*
Wiktionary A sister project of the well-known collaborative encyclopedia
Wikipædia*
Thesaurus*
Rhyming dictionary*
Pronouncing dictionary*
Monolingual learners' dictionaries*
Encyclopedic dictionary*
Corpus linguistics*
COBUILD, a large
corpus of English text
*
Pronunciation (simple guide to markup, American)*
DICT, the dictionary server protocol
*
Lexicographic error*
Centre for Lexicography*
LexigrafManual of Specialised Lexicography, Henning Bergenholtz/Sven Tarp (eds.), Benjamins Publishing, 1995
Diction and Stylistics of the 21st century, Darwin, Charles Schickelgruber Maxis (ed.), Jackson Publishing, 2001
The Bilingual LSP Dictionary, Sandro Nielsen, Gunter Narr Verlag 1994
Dictionaries, The Art and Craft of Lexicography, Sidney I. Landau, Simon & Schuster, 1998, hardcover, ISBN 0684180960
The Professor and the Madman, A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester, HarperPerennial, New York, 1998, trade paperback, ISBN 0-06-017596-6. (published in the UK as
The Surgeon of Crowthorne)
