Chinese dictionary

[Manoz]

Hi, just wondering if anyone could recommend a good Chinese-Chinese dictionary (what I mean by this is a dictionary that provides complete Chinese definitions of words, examples of usage would be icing on the cake too). Ideally, looking for a dictionary that I can download and use offline.

Many thanks

[Jane_PA]

You can buy中国现代汉语词典,not 新华字典. I never liked 新华字典.

[jbradfor]

I believe 中国现代汉语词典 is a paper dictionary only? Is that what you wanted, or did you only want an electronic dictionary?

[feihong]

I say go for an electronic dictionary. Lookup is so much faster, and it will be lighter than a paper dictionary (excluding the pocket ones). The one I use now is Pleco for iPod Touch.

[ma3zi1]

I also think 新華字典 is pretty useless. Even though it is available for iPhone/iPod, it is only a character dictionary, it doesn't include words or 成語.

Although it is not download-able, you should really consider the Taiwan Ministry of Education online dictionary (重編國語辭典修訂本). This is the website homepage: http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/

I use that dictionary everyday and I have found it to be very complete. There are many options for how to structure your query, and the default is to search for the characters entered in any word, 成語, or 諺語. So often if I am searching for something that I think is just one word, it turns out that I find an entry for an entire phrase. This can be very helpful. Moreover, almost every entry includes a sample sentence for the word.

However, there are two main caveats to 國語辭典: 1) the dictionary only takes traditional characters as inputs, and all definitions are in traditional characters. 2) most of the sample sentences for older words are taken from classical Chinese novels and scriptures, so they are in 文言文 not 白話文.

Another useful online Chinese-Chinese dictionary is http://www.zdic.net/. Conversely, zdict only accepts/outputs simplified characters, but it is also very. My problem with zdic is that you have to pick which dictionary you want to search before you submit your query (i.e. 字典, 辭典, or 成語字典). So, if you don't know whether you are looking for a word or a something that is part of a larger phrase, your searching will be hampered a bit.

I hope that helps.

[Glenn]

I use 重編國語辭典修訂本 as my dictionary of choice too, but I still haven't gotten comfortable with all of its features. I normally just copy/paste or type in a character/word and hit "go". One thing that's slightly annoying is the way it orders the results, although I assume it's a lot like a print Chinese dictionary. That is, it takes all the words and phrases your search terms are a part of, and then orders them by bopomofo order, then 1-4 tone order. So sometimes I just want a single character, but it's commonly used and towards the end of the bopomofo order, so I'll have to go through 5 or 6 pages just to find what I'm looking for. Then there's the timing out thing. What's that about, anyway?

Quick question about the example sentences: I normally assume if it's only from some old text that sense of the word/character isn't used much so more, so I look for the ones that just say 如:. Is that a safe way of looking at it, or should I pay more attention to the text the examples are taken from and when they were written?

And one last thing: for things written in simplified characters I like 百度词典, which has the advantages of also allowing you to see the readings and meaning of words in the definitions by highlighting them, and it will convert traditional to simplified. I prefer traditional, though, which is why I stick with 重編國語辭典修訂本, although it can be nice to check the two against each other.

[jbradfor]

There are also websites that provide nothing by examples. www.jukuu.com comes to mind, but I'm sure there are others.

There might not be the perfect solution, a couple that together get close might be the best you can expect.

[EDIT: Sorry for the typo in the URL!!]

Edited August 27, 2010 at 02:03 PM by jbradfor

[Davis Lee]

汉典 (http://www.zdic.net/) is easy to access. Also I would recommend 新华字典, which is neat and useful. Hope helps.

[Glenn]

I just plugged www.jukou.com into the browser, and it didn't take me to a dictionary. Is that the right address?

[ma3zi1]

@Glenn:

For 重編國語辭典修訂本, if you type "^字$", where 字 = any individual character, then you will only get results for that character alone.

Also, searching for the "如： " in any dictionary entry is the fastest way to find a sample sentence for the most modern meaning of the word. However, sometimes it's okay to look at the sentences from 西遊記 or 紅樓夢 and books like that. Those books are written in a manner that is sort of transitional from 文言文 to 白話文, so sometimes the sample sentences are readable.

I don't know what the timing-out thing is about, but for anyone who is unaware: If you are using 重編國語辭典修訂本, and you don't search for something for about 5 minutes, the next time you try a search it will send you a message that the page timed out, and you will have to reload to the home page to start again. I guess it's because their server is in Taiwan?

Also, zdict has the same highlight-to-define function as 百度詞典. My main problem with zdict is that it shows English definitions too, which is confusing when I'm trying to immerse myself in Chinese.

Oh, and the correct web address is www.jukuu.com for that other site.

[Glenn]

ma3zi1, you may have just changed my life. Thanks for the tip!

[ma3zi1]

@Glenn: Haha, no problem!

[Glenn]

Ah, www.jukuu.com. I knew it was close, but couldn't quite remember.

Thanks for the after-edit tips too!

Oh, and you don't have to actually go back to the main page when it times out, you can just re-enter the search term and hit "go".

[Edit] Just checked zdict, and I remember looking at it before, but I favored 百度词典 over it because it's faster and they seem to draw from the same dictionary.

[tboasis7]

nciku on the computer is great, i think they have one for ipod touch also

I use pleco and dianhua on my ipod touch, both are usable offline and give pretty good definitions.... oh and dianhua is free!!

[deathtrap]

I bought the Nciku dictionary for my iPhone. I love it. Well worth the $5 it costs, it makes me regret buying the printed Pocket Oxford Chinese Dictionary

Only problem though is that I have an iPhone 3G, and it's dogshit slow because of the IOS 4 update. I expect it would be a dream on the iPhone 3GS/4.

Also, just a heads up. Nciku has some great short stories for the iPhone and iPad built on their ebook reader program which includes its own dictionary for word lookups while reading the stories. I think its great even though only 1 story is available for the iPhone while 7 are for the iPad =/

(I have no affiliation with Nciku, I just love their products )

[ma3zi1]

@deathtrap:

Does the Nciku iPhone app have a Chinese-Chinese dictionary?

On their website I can only find examples of English-Chinese & Chinese-English in the pictures of the app in action.

I would really consider buying it if it had a Chinese-Chinese dictionary feature on the iPhone, I've been looking for that for a while now...

[feihong]

I use pleco and dianhua on my ipod touch, both are usable offline and give pretty good definitions.... oh and dianhua is free!!

I just want to point out that the difference between Pleco and Dianhua is not that one is free and the other is not. Pleco is also free, but it gives you the option of purchasing additional modules for extra functionality.

[mcgau]

if you want the downloadable one, Hangyu Dai Cidian and Kangxi dict are available in stardict, which can be used with android (colordict) and iphone.

p.s. I have kept a bunch of Chinese-Chinese dictionary in stardict format. if anyone need it, i can upload it somewhere.

[deathtrap]

@ma3zi1, it's only English-Chinese/Chinese-English, for now. The website does have Chinese-Chinese listings though.

[ma3zi1]

Oh, that's too bad, guess I'll wait on that purchase for a bit.