| Title |
Year |
Notes
|
| ABC Chinese-English Dictionary |
1996 |
First Chinese dictionary collated in single-sort alphabetical order of pinyin, John DeFrancis
|
| A Chinese-English Dictionary |
1892 |
Herbert Allen Giles' bestselling dictionary, 2nd ed. 1912
|
| A Dictionary of the Chinese Language |
1815–1823 |
First Chinese-English, English-Chinese dictionary, Robert Morrison
|
| A Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language |
1874 |
First Chinese-English dictionary to include regional pronunciations, Samuel Wells Williams
|
| Cangjiepian |
220 BC (Qin) |
Small Seal Script orthographic primer, Li Si's language reform
|
| CEDICT |
1997–present |
Paul Denisowski's text file project modeled on Japanese EDICT dictionary
|
| CFDICT |
2010–present |
David Houstin's text file project modeled on English CEDICT dictionary
|
| Chinese and English Dictionary |
1842 |
Walter Henry Medhurst
|
| Cihai |
1938–2009 (ROC, PRC) |
Popular modern general-purpose encyclopedic dictionary, 6 editions
|
| Ciyuan |
1915–1984 (ROC, PRC) |
First major 20th-century encyclopedic dictionary, 3 editions and 3 supplements
|
| Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese |
1947 |
Yuen Ren Chao's and Yang Lien-sheng's first Chinese dictionary for spoken language
|
| Dai Kan-Wa Jiten |
1955–1960, 2000 (Japan) |
Tetsuji Morohashi's Chinese-Japanese character dictionary, 50,305 entries
|
| Erya |
250 BC (Warring States) |
Oldest extant Chinese dictionary, semantic field collation, one of the Thirteen Classics
|
| Fangyan |
15 BC (Han) |
Yang Xiong, first dictionary of Chinese regional varieties
|
| Le Grand Ricci (or Grand dictionnaire Ricci de la langue chinoise) |
2001, DVD 2010 |
7 volume Chinese-French dictionary, 13,500 characters and about 300,000 entries of terms and expressions.
|
| Ganlu Zishu |
750 (Tang) |
First orthography dictionary of the regular script
|
| Grammata Serica Recensa |
1957 (Sweden) |
Bernhard Karlgren's groundbreaking Old and Middle Chinese-English dictionary
|
| Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects |
2002 (PRC) |
Compendium of dictionaries for 42 local varieties of Chinese
|
| Guangya |
230 (Cao Wei) |
Zhang Yi's supplement to the Erya
|
| Guangyun |
1008 (Song) |
Rime dictionary expansion of Qieyun, source for reconstruction of Middle Chinese
|
| Han-Han Dae Sajeon |
2008 (South Korea) |
Korean hanja-to-hangul dictionary, 53,667 character entries
|
| Hanyu Da Cidian |
1986–1993 (PRC) |
Highly respected modern word/phase dictionary, diachronically collated, over 23,000 character entries
|
| Hanyu Da Zidian |
1986–1989, 2010 (PRC) |
Highly respected modern character dictionary, 60,370 entries
|
| Jijiupian |
40 BC (Han) |
Oldest extant orthographic primer, rhymed lines
|
| Jingdian Shiwen |
580 (Tang) |
Lu Deming's exegetical dictionary for Chinese classic texts
|
| Jiyun |
1037 (Song) |
Rime dictionary expansion of the Guangyun, 53,525 head characters
|
| Kangxi Dictionary |
1716 (Qing) |
Kangxi era character dictionary, 47,000 entries, see also List of 214 Kangxi radicals
|
| Leipian |
1066 (Song) |
Sima Guang's expansion of the Yupian, 31,319 character entries, 544 radicals
|
| Longkan Shoujian |
997 (Liao) |
Buddhist dictionary of pronunciations and meanings, 26,000 characters, radical and phonetic indexes
|
| Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary |
1931 |
Robert Henry Mathews, 2nd ed. 1943
|
| Menggu Ziyun |
1308 (Yuan) |
Only example of 'Phags-pa script-Chinese dictionary, 813 entries
|
| Pearl in the Palm |
1048 (Western Xia) |
First Chinese-Tangut language bilingual dictionary
|
| Peiwen Yunfu |
1711 (Qing) |
Rime dictionary of literary phrases, 10,257 entries arranged by 106 rimes
|
| Pentaglot Dictionary |
1794 (Qing) |
8,671 Manchu entries translated into Tibetan, Mongolian, Chagatai, and Chinese
|
| Piya |
1125 (Song) |
Erya supplement of plant and animal names
|
| Qi Lin Bayin |
1650 (Qing) |
Rime dictionary of Fuzhou dialect
|
| Qieyun |
601 (Sui) |
Rime dictionary of Classical Chinese, fanqie pronunciation glosses, 2,158 character entries
|
| Qiyin lüe |
1161 (Song) |
Rime dictionary resembling Yunjing
|
| Shenglei |
230 (Cao Wei) |
First Chinese rime dictionary, lost work, partially reconstructed
|
| Shiben |
250 BC (Warring States) |
First Chinese encyclopedic dictionary of origins
|
| Shiming |
200 (Han) |
Expansion of Erya, 1,502 entries, linguistically important Han-era pronunciation glosses
|
| Shizhoupian |
800 BC (Zhou) |
First recorded Chinese dictionary, Great Seal script, lost work
|
| Shuowen Jiezi |
121 (Han) |
First character dictionary collated by graphic radicals, 9,353 entries, see also List of 540 Shuowen Jiezi radicals
|
| Tangyun |
732 (Tang) |
Rime dictionary revision of Qieyun, lost work
|
| The Five Thousand Dictionary |
1926 (ROC) |
Courtenay Hughes Fenn's dictionary of 5,000 commonly used characters
|
| Xiandai Hanyu Cidian |
1978–2012 (PRC) |
Authoritative general-purpose dictionary, 6 editions, 69,000 entries
|
| Xiao Erya |
150 BC (Han) |
"Little Erya" supplement, 374 entries
|
| Xinhua Zidian |
1957–2004 (PRC) |
Best-selling Chinese dictionary, world's most popular reference work, 11 editions, 3,300 character entries, 189-radical system
|
| Yiqiejing Yinyi (Huilin) |
807 (Tang) |
Expansion of Yiqiejing yinyi (Xuanying), 31,000 word entries, 100 chapters
|
| Yiqiejing Yinyi (Xuanying) |
649 (Tang) |
Oldest surviving Chinese "pronunciation and meaning" dictionary of Buddhist technical terminology, 25 chapters, archetype for Chinese bilingual dictionaries
|
| Yunhai jingyuan |
780 (Tang) |
First rime dictionary collated phonetically instead of graphically, lost work
|
| Yunjing |
1161, 1203 (Song) |
Oldest extant rime tables, arranged by four tones of Middle Chinese and 23 types of articulation
|
| Yupian |
543 (Liang) |
Character dictionary with 12,158 character entries, 542-radical system, fanqie glosses
|
| Zhengzitong |
1627 (Ming) |
Supplement to the Zihui character dictionary, 33,000 entries
|
| Zhongguo Renming Dacidian |
1921 (ROC) |
Leading biographical dictionary in China
|
| Zhonghua Da Zidian |
1915 (ROC) |
Updated expansion of Kangxi Dictionary, 48,000 entries
|
| Zhonghua Zihai |
1994 (PRC) |
Currently the largest character dictionary, 85,568 entries
|
| Zhongwen Da Cidian |
1962–1968 |
Chinese revised version of Japanese Dai Kan-Wa Jiten, 49,905 character entries
|
| Zhongyuan Yinyun |
1324 (Yuan) |
Rime table, 5,866 characters collated by 19 rime groups, important for historical Chinese phonology
|
| Zihui |
1615 (Ming) |
First character dictionary to use the 214-radical system adopted by many later works
|
| Zilin |
350 (Jin) |
Character dictionary with 12,824 entries, 540-radical system, lost work, partially reconstructed
|
| Zitong |
1254 (Southern Song) |
Dictionary of orthography, compares seal, clerical, and regular script characters
|
| Ziyuan |
340 (Eastern Jin) |
Character dictionary attributed to Ge Hong, lost work excepting fragments
|
