字典

zì diǎn

CL 本 běn 部 bù

HSK 2.0 Level 3 HSK 3.0 Level 3 Noun Uncommon

Definitions

1. Chinese character dictionary (containing entries for single characters, contrasted with a 詞典|词典[cí diǎn], which has entries for words of one or more characters)
2. (coll.) dictionary

Word relationships

Counterparts

1 item

• 词典 cí diǎn 词典 cí diǎn dictionary Compared to 字典 which focuses on single characters, 词典 contains multi-character words.: dictionary

Register variants

1 item

• 辞典 cídiǎn 辞典 cídiǎn dictionary 辞典 is a more formal or specialized term for a lexicon or dictionary, often used in technical contexts.: dictionary

Related words

1 item

• 词库 cí kù 词库 cí kù word stock 词库 is a lexical database or word bank, not necessarily a printed dictionary.: word stock

Usage notes

Common mistakes

Do not confuse 字典 (character dictionary) with 词典 (word dictionary). If you need to look up a compound word like 朋友, use 词典, not 字典.

Formality

In everyday speech, people may use 字典 to refer to any dictionary, but formally it's limited to character dictionaries.

Example Sentences

4 shown

我买了一本中文 字典 。

I bought a Chinese character dictionary.

他编辑了一本 字典 。

He compiled a dictionary.

我有 字典 。

Source: Tatoeba.org (ID 9462615)

你有 字典 嗎？

Source: Tatoeba.org (ID 2705437)

Sentence data courtesy of Tatoeba.org. AI-generated examples are marked with this icon.

Words Containing 字典

• 康熙字典 康熙字典 kāng xī zì diǎn: the Kangxi Dictionary, named after the Kangxi Emperor, who in 1710 ordered its compilation, containing 47,035 single-character entries
• 活字典 活字典 huó zì diǎn: walking dictionary
• 汉语大字典 汉语大字典 hàn yǔ dà zì diǎn: Hanyu Da Zidian, one of the most comprehensive Chinese character dictionaries with 54,678 (and later 60,370) entries, first published between 1986-1990

Child Words of 字典

• 字 字 zì: letter
• 典 典 diǎn: canon