Chinese word

辞典

Pronunciation

Pinyincí diǎn

Meaning

  • noundictionary

Example

我在书店买了一本辞典。wǒ zài shū diàn mǎi le yì běn cí diǎn

I bought a dictionary at the bookstore.

Illustration for 辞典 (dictionary)

More examples

学生们在图书馆查阅辞典。xué shēng men zài tú shū guǎn chá yuè cí diǎn

The students consult a dictionary in the library.

Core concept

A map of written language in which each entry leads from a word or character to the information needed to understand it.

Common phrases

  • 买一本辞典mǎi yì běn cí diǎn

    buy a dictionary

  • 查阅辞典chá yuè cí diǎn

    consult a dictionary

  • 电子辞典diàn zi cí diǎn

    electronic dictionary

Similar words

词典cí diǎn: A dictionary for checking the pronunciation, meaning, usage, and examples of individual words.
字典zì diǎn: A dictionary that gives the form, pronunciation, and meaning of individual Chinese characters.
工具书gōng jù shū: A reference work used in study or work to find useful, organized information.

Definition in Chinese

收录词语并给出发音、解释、用法和例句，按字或词的顺序排列，供查阅的参考书或工具。shōu lù cí yǔ bìng gěi chū fā yīn jiě shì yòng fǎ hé lì jù àn zì huò cí de shùn xù pái liè gōng chá yuè de cān kǎo shū huò gōng jù

Word origin

The character 辞 (cí, "word or expression") points to language, while 典 (diǎn, "reference work") points to an authoritative book, so their pairing names a language reference.

Usage tips

  • The term often sounds more formal than casual speech, which helps explain why it appears naturally in the names of specialized reference books.

Other meanings

  • character dictionarynoun

Related words

  • 电子辞典diàn zi cí diǎnelectronic dictionarynoun
  • 纸质辞典zhǐ zhì cí diǎnpaper dictionarynoun
  • 权威辞典quán wēi cí diǎnauthoritative dictionarynoun

Word lists with this word