zì diǎn
dictionnaire
Practice writing with stroke order guidance, audio pronunciation, and interactive exercises in our mobile app.
Step-by-step stroke order animations
Native speaker audio pronunciation
Interactive writing recognition
我需要一本字典来学习中文。
wǒ xūyào yī běn zìdiǎn lái xuéxí zhōngwén.
I need a dictionary to learn Chinese.
这本字典里有许多生字。
zhè běn zìdiǎn lǐ yǒu xǔduō shēngzì.
There are many new words in this dictionary.
查字典可以帮助我理解文章的意思。
chá zìdiǎn kěyǐ bāngzhù wǒ lǐjiě wénzhāng de yìsi.
Looking up words in a dictionary can help me understand the meaning of an article.
词典 (cídiǎn)
dictionary
字典 (zìdiǎn)
dictionary
词典 (cídiǎn)
dictionary
百科全书 (bǎikēquánshū)
encyclopedia
The Chinese word 字典 (zìdiǎn) for "dictionary" is a compound of two characters: 字 (zì) and 典 (diǎn). The character 字 literally means "character" or "word", and is composed of the radical 宀 (miàn) meaning "roof" or "house", and the phonetic component 子 (zǐ) meaning "child". This combination suggests the idea of "a child under a roof", representing the notion of learning and education. The character 典 (diǎn) has multiple meanings, including "law", "rule", "canon", or "model". In the context of 字典, it refers to a collection or compilation of characters, rules, and information related to language. Therefore, the term 字典 can be understood as a "book of characters" or a "compilation of words", which accurately describes the purpose and content of a dictionary.
