Dictionary Apps & Websites
Find Chinese dictionary apps and websites with everything from basic definitions to audio, handwriting recognition and other advanced features. Use this curated list to choose the right tool for your needs.
Dictionary Resources
Dictionary Apps
Hanping is a free, ad-free Chinese dictionary that searches characters, pinyin and English from one search box. It includes handwriting and voice recognition, native-speaker audio, more than 7,500 example sentences, character decomposition and stroke animations, with additional dictionaries, audio and study features available as one-time purchases.
Free / Paid App
The Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters explains how each component contributes to a character’s sound, meaning or form, while tracing how the character developed over time. Created using modern linguistic research, it helps learners replace misleading character stories with accurate explanations that support understanding and long-term recall. It is available as a paid add-on for the Pleco app.
Paid Add-On
Pleco combines a large collection of licensed dictionaries with OCR, handwriting recognition, native-speaker audio, animated stroke order and powerful search tools. Learners can also look up words directly in documents and webpages, create customizable flashcards and access approximately 34,000 audio recordings and 27,000 stroke-order diagrams.
Free / Paid App
Provides detailed definitions with samples. English and Chinese Audio. Uses Traditional Chinese Characters.
Free Android AppWeb-Based Dictionaries
The free version of Arch's dictionary provides "extended words" to help you learn more words in which the character you looked up appears. Several sample sentences are provided. Audio only available in the paid version.
Free / Paid Web-Based
Bing Dictionary is a powerful tool for learning Chinese through example sentences. Instead of just definitions, it shows words in context, helping you understand their natural usage. It’s based on millions of translated sentences, offering high-quality examples. You can search in both Chinese and English, see translations, Pinyin, and pronunciation. Originally for Chinese speakers learning English, it’s also great for English speakers learning Chinese. There is an app, but the web-Based dictionary is far superior in offering a plethora of sample sentences.
Free Web-Based
The decomposition of characters in this dictionary is one of the best I have encountered. It alerts you of pronunciation clues in the character. Provides an extensive listing of additional words that the character appears in, along with the level of frequency those words are used. Provides radicals and stroke order.
Free Web-Based Hanping Chinese Lookup is a free, streamlined browser dictionary that requires no installation. Search with Chinese characters, pinyin or English to quickly view definitions, pronunciation, example sentences and related words on a computer or mobile device.
Free Web-Based
MDBG is a free Chinese-English dictionary that lets users search with characters, pinyin or English. It supports simplified and traditional Chinese and includes audio pronunciation, handwriting input, stroke-order animations, example sentences and tools for annotating longer Chinese texts.
Free Web-Based
Allows you to search using English. Searches not only provide a definition and audio, but phrases to help you understand the different meanings of a character in context. Audio, radicals and stroke order available.
Free Web-Based
Wiktionary is a free, community-edited dictionary with extensive coverage of Mandarin. Entries may include simplified and traditional forms, pronunciation, definitions, etymology, related words and historical information, making it especially helpful when a term is missing from conventional learner dictionaries.
Free Web-Based
YellowBridge is a Chinese-English dictionary with more than 200,000 entries, audio pronunciation, handwriting recognition and flexible searches using Chinese, pinyin or English. It also provides sample sentences, synonyms, word decomposition, animated stroke order and fuzzy pinyin matching to help learners find words even when they are unsure of the exact pronunciation.
Free Web-BasedPrimarily Chinese
Best for: Learners comfortable navigating a primarily Chinese interface.
For advanced learners, Chinese only. This Chinese language dictionary is linked to 百度百科 (Bǎidù Bǎikē), the Baidu Encyclopedia. Audio and animated Stroke order avilable.
Free Web-Based
For advanced learners. Only accepts traditional character input. Kwuntung.net, also known as the "Chinese Spellchecker." This "dictionary" stands in a class of its own. It is not a dictionary in the traditional sense. You use it to check character variations in different words.
Free Web-Based
For advanced learners. Only accepts traditional character input. It is very detailed and the definitions are difficult at best. Most entries do not include English. Tackle this one when you are far along in your study.
Free Web-Based
For advanced learners. YouDao's word bank is much larger than most dictionaries available. Unlike other dictionaries that simply tell you additional Chinese words the character appears in, YouDao goes a step further in providing the English translation of those words as well. This is a Chinese language site, but both Chinese and English words are searchable. Make sure "中英" is selected in the drop down next to the search box, as "Chinese to" French, Korean and Japanese are also available.
Free Web-Based
For advanced learners. ZDIC is a free online dictionary offering detailed definitions, example usage, pronunciation and extensive information about individual characters. Its reference tools include character decomposition and indexes organized by radicals, stroke count, pinyin and zhuyin, along with material from historical dictionaries and classical texts.
Free Web-Based