12 volume Chinese dictionary electronic

[fenlan]

There is apparently a **12 volume** Chinese dictionary called 汉语大词典 and I have just come across a link to an electronic version at http://dg.download.21cn.com/file1anathema/utility/jiaoxue/arts/hydcd.exe

This is a 38MB download. I don't know if it will work, or will turn out ot be a dodgy file, but I am giving it a go.

[fenlan]

I think you have to pay 30 yuan to register this software. See http://www.hydcd.com/softreg.htm

[carlo]

The 12-volume HYDCD, published by 汉语词典出版社, does have an electronic version which is on sale in HK (same contents as the printed one but without the examples), but it does NOT contain 中华字典 or 同义反义词典, which are different publications. So I guess they simply put together some of the cheaper electronic dictionaries (there are many free 成语词典 on the net) and appropriated the name HYDCD. There is no way a 12 volume dictionary is going to fit in 38 MB, is there?

[fenlan]

Carlo, thanks for the information. I wonder how this 12 volume book compares to the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary?

[necroflux]

Didn't work on my Windows XP PC, looks like that binary wasn't compiled for x86 32-bit procs. Any success anyone?

[carlo]

It's much like the OED in that it's a diachronic dictionary, ie. it shows you the changes in meaning of a character/variant/compound throughout history. It's probably less useful for students of the modern language as it covers a much longer period of time than the OED, so many usages are obsolete. I think I have looked up a word in the HYDCD two or three times in my life, but then again it depends on what you read. The only other resources that resemble HYDCD are Morohashi's (诸桥辙次) 汉和大辞典, in Japanese, and the (much smaller) Grand Ricci, in French.