Online dictionaries

This page contains a list of online (web-based) Japanese-language dictionaries. See also How can I find the Japanese name of a film, person, plant, etc.? for hints on when you cannot find something in the dictionary. See also Online kanji dictionaries for looking up kanji.

Edict / kanjidic based sites

The following sites are all based on the electronic dictionaries compiled by Professor Jim Breen of Monash University in Australia.

WWWJDIC

WWWJDIC is Jim Breen's own interface to his "Edict", "Kanjidic", and "Enamdic" dictionaries. WWWJDIC is an online Japanese dictionary based on Edict and other electronic dictionaries of Jim Breen. The downloadable dictionaries contain around one hundred thousand Japanese to English translations, as well as the readings of several hundred thousand names in Enamdict, many example sentences, and audio versions of the words.

Several mirror sites of WWWJDIC also exist around the world.

Denshi Jisho

Online Japanese dictionary by Kim Ahlstrom, based on Edict and the related dictionaries. Features a word, kanji, multiradical lookup, and example sentence lookup, and has options for romaji input and output.

Tangorin

Online dictionary by Grzegorz Bober. Features Words, Kanji, Multiradical Words, Multiradical Kanji, Example Sentences, Proper Names, Classical Japanese and Specialized Dictionaries.

popjisyo

This page helps you to read web sites which are written in Japanese. You enter a URL into Popjisyo, and it makes a page which pops up windows in your browser which show the meaning of the words as you move the mouse over them.

Todd David Rudick's Rikai

Popjisyo is a clone of this site.

Romajidesu

Romajidesu is a dictionary based on Jim Breen's JMDict with many additional features such as sample sentences, kanji stroke order, and audio pronunciation.

Commercial dictionary based sites

The following sites are based on various commercial Japanese dictionaries.

Kenkyusha's Online Dictionary: A very large and authoritative dictionary. Requires payment to access.
bab.la language portal Japanese-English-Japanese dictionary

Non-Edict contribution-based dictionaries

Eijiro (英字郎): A user-contributed dictionary which values quantity over quality.
Wiktionary: This is the dictionary associated with Wikipedia.

Other lists of dictionaries

Online Japanese Dictionaries and Glossaries: A list from Jim Breen, contains general and specialized dictionaries.

If you have questions, corrections, or comments, please contact Ben Bullock or use the discussion forum / Privacy policy


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