For a Chinese learner, a Chinese dictionary is indispensable. A good Chinese dictionary is absolutely essential and can’t be more helpful in Chinese learning. So, which Chinese dictionary to use? Here are some very popular free online Chinese dictionaries for you to consider.
1. 汉典 Han Dian
汉典 Han Dian, also called 康熙字典, is a very professional and authoritative Chinese dictionary. In this dictionary, you can get the Pinyin, audio pronunciation, stroke order animation, the equivalent traditional character, etc. You can choose between basic meanings and the detailed explanation. Character properties such as character structure, number of strokes, character radical, origin and evolution of the character, etc. And the related phonological dialects are really valuable if you are a fan of dialects.
If you want, you can also easily check the information of different input methods, property of five elements, related phrases, frequently used phrases, etc. Furthermore, antonyms, synonyms and homophones are very complete. Characters with the same radical, characters with the same number of strokes, and characters with similar pronunciation make your learning more related.
Dictionary of characters, dictionary of words and dictionary of set phrases are integrated in Han Dian 汉典. What’s more, 汉典 has its own forum for users to ask and answer Chinese learning related questions. The dictionary provides both English and Chinese explanation for a word, but the example sentences are all in Chinese. You will find many rich resources regarding Chinese language and Chinese culture, and also a bunch of useful Chinese tools in this online dictionary. You can look up a word using Pinyin, strokes, radicals, or other input methods.
If you are looking for a free online Chinese dictionaries, 汉典 汉典 is highly recommendable. Free mobile dictionary app of 汉典 Han Dian is available.
2. MDBG Dictionary
MDBG Dictionary is a dictionary designed mainly for foreigner Chinese learners. This dictionary is very practical. The explanation for a word is all in English. When you look up a word in the search box, the related words or phrases will automatically appear. Both traditional and simplified Chinese are available. You can also write a character with the writing tool to look it up, and different characters based on the related radical or component you are writing will appear.
With MDBG Dictionary, you can get the property information about the character, audio pronunciation, and stroke order animation. Related words containing, beginning with and ending with the same character are available. Moreover, when checking a word, you can choose to direct yourself to the related Baidu Encyclopedia page and Ju Ku page. In addition, you can also choose to direct to Skitter, a Chinese characters and Japanese characters learning tool.
MDBG Dictionary is one of the ideal free online Chinese dictionaries for foreign Chinese learners to learn Chinese characters, words and phrases in a very easy way.
3. 句酷 Ju kuu
句酷 Ju Kuu, founded in early 2004, claims to be the world’s largest bilingual example sentences search engine. Example sentences of Chinese-English, Chinese-Japanese and Japanese-English are available in 句酷 Ju kuu. Just type a Chinese, English or Japanese word in the search box and you will find a great quantity of bilingual example sentences.
This dictionary is really an excellent bonus if your free online Chinese dictionaries don’t allow you sufficient examples. The diverse examples sentences no doubt will get you a very good understanding of how a word is used.
4. 汉语大辞典 Grand Chinese Dictionary
汉语大辞典, the largest collection of Xinhua Dictionary, Modern Chinese Dictionary, and Dictionary of Idioms. You can check characters, words, set phrases, poems, antithetical couplets, lantern riddles, aphorisms, proverbs, antonyms, synonyms, ancient Chinese proses, etc. And also you will find many others rich Chinese learning resources. Even though English explanation is available, all the example sentences are in Chinese. Besides, the explanation is very complete in 汉语大辞典, for example, you can find more than 15 meanings for 做 when it is used as a verb.
This dictionary is very recommendable for those who want to get more related learning and extensive reading. The interface of 汉语大辞典 is kind of difficult to adapt for new users as you can see in the picture below the explanation part may take you some effort to read well.
5. 百度词典 Baidu Dictionary
Baidu Dictionary, one of the principal products of Baidu Company, which is the biggest search engine in Chinese language. Baidu Dictionary, integrated with 汉语大辞典, provides basic and detailed explanation. The available features are audio pronunciation, stroke order, radical name, related characters, related phrases, and more information about the character.
The detailed explanation in Baidu Dictionary is the same as that in Grand Chinese Dictionary 汉语大辞典. Bilingual example sentences are not available. If you just want to check the basic and complete detailed explanation, Baidu dictionary is an ideal alternative for Grand Chinese Dictionary 汉语大辞典.
6. 百度翻译 Baidu Translation
Baidu Translation, integrated with 汉英大辞典, provides Chinese-English explanation, Chinese explanation, bilingual example sentences, and the discussion forum of Baidu for the related words. Like Bing Dictionary, Baidu Translation does not have very complete explanation too, but the explanation in either of them is for the most common meanings of a word. The bilingual example sentences in Baidu Translation is less than that in Bing Dictionary. 
7. 必应词典 Bing Dictionary
Bing Dictionary, has very clear interface and it’s very easy to have a quick glance of the content, but the explanation are not so complete as in 汉典, 汉语大辞典 and 新华字典. You can see there are only 8 meanings for 做 in Bing Dictionary, while there are about 20 in the previously mentioned dictionaries. You won’t find related phrases, antonyms, synonyms, stroke order animation, etymology, characters of the same pronunciation in 汉典. Audio pronunciation, homophones, characters with the same number of strokes and characters with similar pronunciation are not available too.
Abundant example sentences in Chinese and English are available in Bing Dictionary. It’s a very excellent choice for a beginner or intermediate learner of mandarin Chinese.
8. 在线新华字典/在线汉语字典 Online Xinhua Dictionary
The dictionary part on the website of 在线新华字典/在线汉语字典 is exactly the same as that of 汉语大辞典, and two dictionaries share many contents, but there are more additional features in 在线新华字典 . Some of the additional features are “related set phrases”, “etymology”, “characters with same pronunciation”, “related words with English translation”, etc.
在线新华字典 contains very diverse Chinese-related resources, and besides them, there are lots of grammar points and important tips to differentiating similar words or phrases. You can also find many useful tools like permanent calendar, Pinyin converter, list of Chinese radicals, introduction of Chinese festivals, Chinese surnames, Chinese appellations, etc.
9. 爱词霸 Iciba
爱词霸, one of the most popular English-learning website in China, provides Chinese-English/English-Chinese Dictionaries, and also online translation for other languages. The Chinese-English Dictionary in 爱词霸 Iciba seems to be the same as that in Baidu Translation and Bing Dictionary as you can see when you look up “做”, the explanation in all three turns out the same. Plus 爱词霸 have more additional features such as industry’s lexicon, today’s hot words, etc.
The “Translate the selected words 划词翻译” is bright feature that makes your learning more convenient. On 爱词霸 you can find many interesting bilingual articles. Although 爱词霸 is English learning oriented, you can make good use of the dictionary and bilingual articles to learn Chinese. 爱词霸 is very user-friendly, and you can download it to your PC and mobile for free.
Online dictionary: English-Chinese translation of words and expressions, definition, synonyms
English » Chinese dictionary with thousands of words and phrases
Reverso offers you the best tool for learning Chinese, the English Chinese dictionary containing commonly used words and expressions, along with thousands of English entries and their Chinese translation, added in the dictionary by our users. For the ones performing professional translations from English to Chinese, the specialized terms found in our dictionary are very helpful.
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«Collins Chinese Dictionary 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2004»
By
Last updated:
February 11, 2023
Having a digital dictionary is essential for Chinese learners because of all the extra features it typically has:
- A character drawing option
- Pronunciation based on characters/pinyin (and vice versa)
- Stroke order
- And radical search and English-Chinese/Chinese-English translations, of course.
And these are just the basic functions you need.
To find this mythical perfect online Chinese dictionary, start with the five on our list!
Contents
- 文林‧免费版 (Wén lín‧miǎnfèi bǎn) — Wenlin Free Edition
- Pleco
- LINE Dictionary / Nciku
- 汉英词典 (Hàn yīng cídiǎn) — Hanping Chinese Dictionary Lite
- MDBG
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)
文林‧免费版 (Wén lín‧miǎnfèi bǎn) — Wenlin Free Edition
Are you a student? A teacher? A near-fluent speaker? Wenlin is a go-to for every (aspiring) sinologist. You probably wouldn’t download Wenlin if you only need to translate something basic from time to time. You’ll want to use it during class or while translating extensive texts, rather than when walking around Beijing or ordering in a Chinese restaurant.
If that sounds like it suits you, then you can use this software to learn, translate and read Chinese text. There are five main products offered by the developers, and the free version has almost all you need!
There’s one amazing thing about Wenlin every user would appreciate—an extensive user’s guide. When you first download this software, it might not be that straightforward to use, so the guide is helpful. But once you get comfortable, Wenlin becomes your best friend.
Just be aware: Wenlin is an online software suitable for computer download with no smartphone option.
Here’s a sampling of what Wenlin can do:
- Text document translation. you can translate a whole document with Wenlin! If you want to read an online article or have a big translation to do, you can either copy and paste or open it in PDF in the program. As you go through the text with your cursor, translations automatically appear at the bottom. You’re able to see word translations, their breakdown (what each character means) and pinyin, too.
- Handwriting function. We all know the struggle. You need to translate a character, but don’t know how to pronounce it. The only way to find out what it means is by drawing it. Compared to physical dictionaries, where you usually have to look up characters by radicals, online dictionaries usually have a great advantage of allowing you to write the character. Wenlin counts your strokes, translates your character, provides pinyin, suggests words containing your character and even provides an example sentence.
- List of Chinese characters, pinyin and English words. This is a very physical dictionary-like function. English and pinyin words are listed alphabetically and Chinese characters are listed according to their frequency of usage.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you want a comprehensive, professional Chinese online dictionary, Wenlin is the right choice for you.
Pleco
Pleco is one of the most popular Chinese smartphone online dictionaries thanks to its user-friendly and straightforward format. It’s exactly what you need if you’re a beginner or just a visitor.
Pleco’s functionality is simple: It helps you translate, fast!
Want to know what the 鸡汤 tattooed on your friend’s shoulder means? (Yes, he’s not the first nor the last to get jītāng — chicken soup inked on his body.) Just draw it with one finger and Pleco will translate for you in seconds!
Need to talk to a native speaker, but struggling with pronunciation? Pleco will read it out loud for you!
Forgot how to write a character on a test? Don’t tell anyone, but Pleco will sort it out for you based on your English or pinyin entry!
Handwriting function, translation of characters, pinyin, English words and OCR (Chinese words look-up) are features that Pleco offers naturally. Plus, you can open a document and add flashcards.
Pleco will just do it all for you—quickly, easily and for free.
LINE Dictionary / Nciku
LINE Dictionary, formerly Nciku, is an online dictionary that’ll surely help you get through your first months of learning Chinese.
LINE Dictionary is easy to navigate—there are only three main sections: Dictionary, Translator and Today’s Expressions. So what makes this Chinese online dictionary so great?
Examples, examples, examples.
Every beginner language learner needs to learn how to use a word, what to pair a character with and different expressions. LINE has your back with tons of usage examples. Each word or expression comes with examples of it in use, and some even have full dialogues so you can see the words in action. Looking up “how are you,” for instance, brings up a staggering 131,000+ examples!
In each example, you can click on any Chinese or English word to see its meaning(s). And, best of all, every bit of this is recorded by actual Chinese speakers!
Like the previous dictionaries in our list, LINE has handwriting recognition, pronunciations and translations (characters, English words, pinyin). On top of that, though, LINE will help you speak by providing you with tons of context.
Finally, at the bottom of each conversation, you can find related words. By clicking on them, more examples and sentences become available so you can keep that learning going.
汉英词典 (Hàn yīng cídiǎn) — Hanping Chinese Dictionary Lite
Very similar to Pleco, Hanping works with smartphones and has all the functions we need from a Chinese dictionary. Apart from a Mandarin Chinese free version, there are Cantonese and paid versions, too.
Hanping is a top-notch HSK helper. Being easily accessible, free and smartphone-friendly makes it very popular among Chinese learners.
Is typing taking too long? Can’t copy and paste? Want to just quickly lookup a character? Hanping dictionary has a camera scan function! The dictionary allows you to scan Chinese text into the app and translates it, even with vertical text.
Another amazing feature that helps with real-life conversations, but also simply makes the learning process easier, is a voice recorder. Thanks to the app microphone, you can speak either English or Chinese and the dictionary recognizes each word and provides translations in a second.
There’s a little bit of a drawback there, though—Hanping only translates words, so if you need a whole sentence translator, this one won’t be the one.
Besides the character drawing function, Hanping also offers a character lookup function based on the number of strokes. This might be useful while learning, but if you need a quick translation, go for the handwriting option.
One thing that makes Hanping special is its idioms dictionary. Finally, in addition to HSK and YCT exams dictionaries, a conversational one is also included.
MDBG
If you’re not into fluffy pretty dictionaries with all the functions in the world, then MDBG might be for you.
Although the design of the website and the dictionary is quite simple, it does its job—and offers extra features, as well.
MDBG is great if you just need a translation from time to time, but don’t want anything to take up space on your phone. It has all the essentials: translations for both English and pinyin lookups, as well as a Chinese character search.
You just can’t have an online Chinese dictionary without a handwriting function and you bet MDBG is no exception!
Don’t let MDBG’s simplicity fool you: It also has a special feature! The dictionary lets you test yourself with a quiz. Based on HSK vocabulary, you can either take a Chinese Character Quiz, learn new Chinese characters with flashcards or you can subscribe to their web feed and learn 10 new words a day.
Whether you’re a student, teacher or visitor, it’s a good idea to have a Chinese online dictionary on hand.
No matter what you’re looking for, these five dictionaries have you covered.
祝你好运 (Zhù nǐ hǎo yùn) — Good luck!
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)