Download Japanese Dictionary
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Click on the Settings button in the top right corner to choose how to view and translate and learn Japanese words in our dictionary: with readings in furigana, kana, or rōmaji, adjust the font size, style, etc.
Type the word into the input box. The word can be written in Japanese or English (other languages are also supported by clicking in "Advanced"). The word can be written in kanji, hiragana, katakana, or romaji (Latin letters). Adjectives and verbs can be conjugated. Our search engine can find its dictionary form with no problems at all.
Use the Japanese dictionary to search for any Japanese word and get its meaning in many languages. We also provide example sentences, conjugations, kanji decomposition, pictures, and extended explanation for selected words.
JapanDict is a Japanese dictionary maintained by a group of enthusiasts in the Japanese culture and the Japanese language. After not finding any online Japanese dictionary that fulfilled our needs, we decided to start a fresh alternative to the already oversaturated offer available on the internet.
Speaking of another dictionary, the English-Japanese in the Dictionary App of OS X is also a good compromise if you are not ready for immersion since it has lots context sentences in Japanese and lot of explanation terms in Japanese besides the English explanation.
As you learn new vocabulary we will automatically turn all of your vocabulary cards into i+1 sentence cards. That is, along with the word you want to learn we will also automatically show you an example sentence where you already know all of the words, except the word you're learning. This allows you to learn new vocabulary in context instead of only memorizing the dictionary definitions.
We've gathered a database of over 130 million real Japanese sentences. Usually that would be useless if you aren't already a high level Japanese user, but not with us. Since we track which words you've learned we can intelligently show you only those sentences where you already know all of the words, except the word you want to look up. The more vocabulary you learn, the more example sentences you'll be able to access in our dictionary.
Kim Ahlstrom is a good friend of Tofugu and the creator of the esteemed online Japanese dictionary Jisho.org. Through maintaining Jisho, Kim has naturally become a Japanese dictionary nerd, and thus one of the best people to talk to about the subject.
For example, using both a kokugo 国語こくご (Japanese-Japanese) dictionary and a waei 和英わえい (Japanese-English) dictionary can provide more context on how a word is used. Even different dictionaries of the same type can give you multiple perspectives.
In addition to the types above, dictionaries can vary in other ways. For example, target audience (native speakers or learners, kids or adults) and how they explain the headwords (simple translations or longer explanations). When choosing a dictionary it's important to consider these aspects to make sure it suits your particular situation.
The best Japanese dictionary is the one you can always carry with you, so I'm starting this list with a few good Japanese dictionary apps for your smartphone. These are usually what I turn to first, after consulting Jisho.
This is a really cute Japanese dictionary! It's a digital adaptation of a 国語辞典 (Japanese to Japanese dictionary) originally intended for elementary school kids and a great first step into native Japanese dictionaries for intermediate level students.
The selection of words is smaller than a regular dictionary, but the explanations are clear and simple. And the kanji come with furigana so you don't have to look up the reading of the words in the explanations. This makes it very handy for looking up words in another Japanese-English dictionary because you won't have to figure out the reading on your own. It also comes with a basic kanji dictionary that covers everything Japanese kids learn in elementary school.
As if all that's not enough, take a look at the screenshot above. They even use a kyoukasho 教科書きょうかしょ font, the kind you see in school textbooks. It makes the dictionary feel like an immersive learning environment.
The author of this dictionary, Shirakawa Shizuka 白川静しらかわしずか, was a well-known kanji scholar who wrote several books targeted at kanji enthusiasts. And even better, it's intended for Japanese middle and high schoolers so upper intermediate Japanese learners can benefit too.
It works as a regular kanji dictionary for the Jōyō kanji; it has stroke counts, readings, meanings and example uses. But what sets it apart is the entries focus heavily on the origin and development of the meaning of the kanji. The explanations can be hard to understand at times, but if you're a kanji maniac, it's a very rewarding book.
I love the idea behind this Japanese dictionary! As a marketing campaign for the meikyoukokugo jiten keitaihan 明鏡国語辞典めいきょうこくごじてん 携帯版けいたいばん, the publisher asked people to send in words and definitions for a "peoples' dictionary." And this is the amusing result. It's a not-quite-so-serious dictionary that contains 1,300 words that are either too new, too niche, or for whatever reason don't make it into regular dictionaries.
That's it! Hopefully I've shown you dictionaries can be a lot of fun, not just drab lists of words that you're forced to use when you need to look something up. Each dictionary has its own style and personality, and can be fun to flip through as you explore the language.
There are two other companies that make dictionary apps for iOS and Android: Logovista and BIGLOBE. I have tried some of Logovista's apps and they are generally well made, but not as polished as most of the dictionaries on this list.
If you're short on cash, there are two sites that publish various Japanese dictionaries for free, Weblio and Kotobank. Explore them to see if their dictionaries meet your needs before splurging on a paid app or book. Another free dictionary is eijirou 英辞郎えいじろう which has a ton of Japanese phrases that show how words are used in context.
This publication has included material from the JMdict (EDICT, etc.), KANJIDIC2, ENAMDICT,and KRADFILE dictionary files in accordance with the licence provisions of theElectronic Dictionaries Research Group. See
macOS comes with a dictionary application (called simply "Dictionary"). It includes a large Japanese dictionary and an English-Japanese/Japanese-English dictionary. (These are Super Daijirin and Wisdom waei/eiwa jiten, published by Sanseidō.)
There are also third-party dictionaries with features keyed toward Japanese language learners--like integrated kanji dictionaries and the ability to create vocabulary lists. Almost all of these programs use the same publicly available dictionary files (the EDICT/JMDICT Dictionaries developed by Jim Breen at Monash University), so the definitions will be the same, but the interfaces and features vary. Most developers of dictionary software seem to have shifted their attention toward the iphone; but JEDict is a great one that also runs on MacOS. When you register JEdict, you can also load additional dictionary files that cover specialized vocabulary. A particularly useful one is Jim Breen's ENAMDICT, a huge dictionary file of Japanese proper names.
Tagaini Jisho is a free, open-source Japanese dictionary and kanji lookup tool for Windows, MacOS X and Linux and aims at becoming your Japanese study assistant. It allows you to quickly search for entries and mark those that you wish to study, along with tags and personal notes. It also let you train entries you are studying and follows your progression in remembering them. Finally, it makes it easy to review entries you did not remember by listing them on screen or printing them on a small booklet.
広辞苑 第六版 - 6th edition of Koujien, 2008. It is quite an authoritative dictionary in Japan, however it is not the most popular. This dictionary sorts its definitions from oldest to newest, which is not useful to learners of modern Japanese. Nevertheless, this dictionary has its own charm that I like.
大辞林 第三版 - an extension of the 3rd edition of the Daijirin, 2015. It has a wide assortment of words, expressions, proper nouns, grammar and connectives (actually more important than you think!). It is a a great all-rounder and personally my most used dictionary.
デジタル大辞泉 - Digital Daijisen, May 2021. The QUEEN of online dictionaries. This is the dictionary hosted on the Goo Dictionary, it has a lot of new words, expressions, images and kanji entries. The previous issue where the headword was missing has been fixed. Currently images won't work for Anki cards. (See Yomichan Issue #1741)
明鏡国語辞典 - Meikyou Kokugo Dictionary is a Japanese monolingual dictionary published in 2002 and this is the first edition. What I like about the Meikyou is how it is easier to understand than dictionaries like the Daijirin and Daijsen, and also talks about the difference between kanji usage etc. 撃つ 打つ. It is also really nice for basic grammar definitions. This is my #2 recommendation for people new to monolingual dictionaries.
新明解国語辞典 第五版 - Shinmeikai Kokugo Dictionary, 5th edition, 1999. This dictionary is widely known for it's unique style of defining words. It also uses simple-er language for definitions, but the explanations can get まわりくどい, and thus hard to understand for learners. #4 recommendation for beginners.
新明解国語辞典 第七版 - Shinmeikai Kokugo Dictionary, 7th edition, 2017. Newer version of the above but can have troublesome formatting so I left the old version in the pack. This is the most popular dictionary in Japan.
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