Search Features

Everything you can do with 詞典 search

Basic Search

Type any of the following:

Chinese characters 水, 你好, 中国
Pinyin with tone numbers ni3hao3, shui3, hou2se4yin1
Pinyin with tone marks nǐhǎo, shuǐ, hóusèyīn
Pinyin without tones nihao, shui, zhongguo
English water, hello, pig
Multiple English words fang tooth — finds entries containing BOTH words (AND logic)

Pinyin Syllable Disambiguation

Use apostrophe to clarify ambiguous syllable boundaries:

xi'an Two syllables: xī ān (西安, Xi'an city)
xian Ambiguous — searches both "xian" and "xi an"
xian' Trailing apostrophe = single syllable "xian" only (suppresses ambiguity)
fang'an Two syllables: fāng àn (方案, plan)
fan'gan Two syllables: fǎn gǎn (反感, disgust)

Wildcards

Use * for pattern matching (* = one or more characters):

water* Words starting with "water" (watered, waterfall...) — not "water" itself
*water Words ending with "water" (underwater, rainwater...) — not "water" itself
*water* Words with "water" inside (overwatered, freshwaters...) — not "water", "watered", or "underwater"
w*ter Words matching pattern (water, winter, waiter...)

Length Wildcards

Use [n] to match exactly n characters:

Chinese (matches word length)

[3] All 3-character words
水[2] 3-character words starting with 水 (水 + 2 more characters)
[2]水 3-character words ending with 水 (2 characters + 水)
[1]中[1] 3-character words with 中 in the middle
大[1]國 3-character words starting with 大 and ending with 國

English (matches words in definitions)

w[2]ter Find entries with 5-letter words matching pattern (water, winter, waiter...)
w[1]ter Find entries with 5-letter words (water, woter... though only "water" is real)
[3]ing Find entries with 6-letter words ending in "ing"

Exact Search

Use quotes for exact string matching:

"water" Find entries with exactly "water" as a word (matches standalone, quoted, or parenthetical contexts)
"big dog" Find the exact phrase "big dog"
""water"" Find entries with "water" literally in quotes (nested quotes)

Exact search still uses smart ranking: standalone words rank higher than quoted or parenthetical matches.

Mixed Mode

Combine exact (quoted) and fuzzy (unquoted) terms:

the "dog" ran Find entries containing exact "dog" AND fuzzy matches for "the" and "ran"
"to drink" water Find entries containing exact phrase "to drink" AND fuzzy "water"
"big" "dog" Find entries containing both exact "big" AND exact "dog" (not necessarily adjacent)

All terms use AND logic — every term (quoted or not) must appear in the definition.

Exclusions

Use - to exclude terms from results:

dog -"dog" Fuzzy "dog" (matches dog, doggie, dogs...) excluding exact "dog" — finds "doggie", "dogged", etc.
water -ice Entries with "water" but NOT "ice"
-surname Exclude all surname entries
xi -"xi" Multi-syllable words starting with "xi" (xi'an, xiao, xing...) but not single-syllable "xi"

Pinyin Exclusions

xian -xian' Search "xian" but exclude single-syllable readings — finds only "xi'an" (西安)
xian -xi'an Search "xian" but exclude two-syllable "xi'an" — finds only single-syllable "xian"

Tag Exclusions

dog -#slang Dog-related entries, excluding slang
#coll -#tw Colloquial terms, excluding Taiwanese
water -#r:water Entries with "water" in definition, excluding words with the water radical

Examples

pig Search for "pig" in definitions
pig #r Search "pig", show least relevant first
#r:water Words with the water radical (氵/水)
#r:dog Words with the dog radical (犬)
mouth #r:fire Results containing "mouth" in the definition where one of the characters has the fire radical
#slang Browse all slang terms
eat #idiom Idioms about eating
#tw #coll Colloquial Taiwanese expressions
*ology Words ending in "-ology"

Result Ranking

Results are ranked by relevance:

  1. Tier 0: Words containing a character that means the search term (e.g., searching "pig" ranks words with 猪 highest). Sorted by word length, then position in definition.
  2. Tier 1: Words where the search term appears prominently (positions 1-3 in definition). Sorted by position, then frequency.
  3. Tier 2: Words where the search term appears later in the definition, plus Kangxi radical entries. Sorted by frequency, then position.

Tag Filters

Add #tag to filter results by category. Combine with search terms or use alone.

Result Ordering

#r or #reverse Reverse sort order (show least relevant first — useful for checking end of results)

Search Mode

#pinyin or #cn Search only in pinyin fields (e.g., sh*ng #pinyin finds shang, sheng, etc.)
#en, #eng, or #english Search only in English definitions (e.g., sang #en won't match pinyin "sāng")

Grammar & Usage

#noun or #n Nouns
#verb or #v Verbs (matches "to ...")
#adjective or #adj Adjectives
#pronoun or #pn Pronouns
#classifier or #cl Measure words / classifiers
#bound Bound forms (can't stand alone)

Register & Style

#slang Slang terms
#coll or #colloquial Colloquial usage
#literary Literary/written language
#classical Classical Chinese
#archaic Archaic terms
#old Old/dated usage
#obsolete Obsolete terms
#vulgar Vulgar language
#derog or #derogatory Derogatory terms
#euphemism Euphemisms
#fig or #figurative Figurative usage
#idiom Idiomatic expressions
#neologism Neologisms (new words)
#internet Internet slang
#onom or #onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia
#child Children's language / kiddie terms

Regional

#tw or #taiwanese Taiwan usage / pronunciation
#hk or #hongkong Hong Kong usage
#prc or #china Continental China (PRC) usage
#sg or #singapore Singapore usage
#macau Macau usage
#malaysia Malaysian usage

Lects & Languages

#dialect Dialectal terms (general)
#can, #cant, or #cantonese Cantonese
#minnan Min Nan language(s)
#wu Wu language(s)

Word Origin

#loanword or #loan Loanwords from other languages
#abbr or #abbreviation Abbreviations
#variant or #var Variant forms

Subject Areas

#tcm Traditional Chinese Medicine
#medical, #anatomy, #botany, #zoo, #bio, #taxonomy Life Sciences
#chem, #physics, #math Physical Sciences
#computing, #engineering, #mechanical, #automotive Technology
#law, #politics, #gov, #econ, #finance Law, Politics, & Economics
#military, #warfare Military
#music, #sports, #athletics, #martialarts, #gaming Arts, Sports, & Recreation
#ling, #logic Linguistics & Logic
#agr, #conservation Agriculture & Environment

Religion & Philosophy

#buddhism Buddhism
#confucianism Confucianism
#mythology Mythology

Names & Historical

#name Names
#surname Surnames
#historical Historical terms
#administrative Administrative divisions

Other

#punc or #punctuation Punctuation
#expletive Expletives
#sexual or #sex Sexual terms

Radical Search

#r: Search words by radical using English label (e.g., #r:water, #r:dog)
#radical or #rad Any radical-related dictionary entries
#kangxi Kangxi radical entries specifically

Here are some curated radical tags just to list the most common/useful (there are like 150+ mappings total!).

Category Labels
People m / person / man, f / woman / female, child / baby, corpse, scholar, father, mother
Body hand, foot, eye, ear, mouth, bone, flesh / meat, tongue, blood, hair, skin, nose, tooth, head / page, claw, heart
Nature water, fire, earth, tree, grass, bamboo, mountain, river, stone, ice, moon, sun, rain, wind, vapor
Animals dog (犬), animal / beast (犭), bird, fish, horse, sheep / goat, ox / cow, pig, bug / insect, tiger, deer, dragon, turtle, feather
Materials metal / gold, silk / thread, leather, cloth / rag, shell, tile, jade, coat / clothes, hemp
Food/Plants grain, rice, wheat, bean, wine, eat / food, melon
Actions walk / way, run / go, stand, stop / step, see, say, enter, fly, write / brush
Tools/Weapons knife / blade, bow, arrow, spear, axe, cart / vehicle, boat
Buildings door, gate, roof, cave / hole, field, village
Concepts power / strength, work, life, death, sick / disease, spirit / altar, ghost / demon, speech / word
Colors white, black, red, blue / green, yellow