Search Tips
Pinyin Search
To search for Chinese characters using Pinyin, you can enter the letters of the syllable, optionally followed by the tone of the syllable. The following tone numbers can be used:
| Tone Number | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | First tone (high level tone) |
| 2 | Second tone (rising tone) |
| 3 | Third tone (dipping or falling-rising tone) |
| 4 | Fourth tone (falling tone) |
| 0 or 5 | Neutral tone |
Example:
If you want to search for 中 zhōng, you can enter "zhong1", "zhōng", or "zhong".
The order of the listed Chinese characters depends on the sort settings in the search settings.
To enter the umlaut "ü" as in "lü" or "nü", you can enter the umlaut "ü", the letter "v", or the letter "u" followed by a colon, for example: "lü", "lv", "lu:".
The Pinyin search supports two kinds of wildcards:
| Wildcard | Description |
|---|---|
| ? | Represents a placeholder for zero or one letter. |
| * | Represents a placeholder for zero or more letters. |
You can enter wildcards anywhere in the search text, at the beginning, at the end, or in the middle of the search expression, for example:
- Enter "ba?" if you want to search all characters whose pronunciation starts with "ba" and which is two or three letters long, e.g. "ba", "bao", "ban" etc.
- Enter "ba1?" if you want to search all characters whose pronunciation starts with "bā", which is two or three letters long and has the first tone, e.g. "bā", "bāo", "bān" etc.
- Enter "?an" if you want to search all characters whose pronunciation ends with "an" and which is two or three letters long, e.g. "an", "kan", "yan" etc.
- Enter "xi*" if you want to search all characters whose pronunciation starts with "xi", e.g. "xi", "xia", "xian" etc.
- Enter "*ai" if you want to search all characters whose pronunciation ends with "ai", e.g. "ai", "cai", "tai" etc.
Zhuyin-/Bopomofo Search
Instead of Pinyin, you can also use Zhuyin (Bopomofo) to search for Chinese characters. Just enter Zhuyin characters into the search field.
To specify the tone for the syllable, either append the tone number or the tone marker to the syllable. The following tone markers are supported:
| Tone | Tone Marker | Example |
|---|---|---|
| First tone | n/a | ㄚ |
| Second tone | ˊ | ㄚˊ |
| Third tone | ˇ | ㄚˇ |
| Fourth tone | ˋ | ㄚˋ |
| Neutral tone | ˙ | ㄚ˙ |
The Zhuyin search also supports wildcards:
| Wildcard | Description |
|---|---|
| ? | Represents a placeholder for zero or one Zhuyin character. |
| * | Represents a placeholder for zero or more Zhuyin characters. |
Jyutping Search
To search for Chinese characters using Jyutping, you can enter the letters of the syllable, optionally followed by the tone of the syllable. The following tone numbers can be used:
| Tone Number | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | First tone (high level tone) |
| 2 | Second tone (mid rising tone) |
| 3 | Third tone (mid level tone) |
| 4 | Fourth tone (low falling tone) |
| 5 | Fifth tone (low rising tone) |
| 6 | Sixth tone (low level tone) |
Example:
If you want to search for 中 zung¹, you can enter "zung1", "zung¹", or "zung1".
The order of the listed Chinese characters depends on the sort settings in the search settings.
The Jyutping search supports two kinds of wildcards:
| Wildcard | Description |
|---|---|
| ? | Represents a placeholder for zero or one letter. |
| * | Represents a placeholder for zero or more letters. |
You can enter wildcards anywhere in the search text, at the beginning, at the end, or in the middle of the search text, for example:
- Enter "si?" if you want to search all characters whose pronunciation starts with "si" and which is two or three letters long, e.g. "si", "siu", "sit" etc.
- Enter "si1?" if you want to search all characters whose pronunciation starts with "si", which is two or three letters long and has the first tone, e.g. "si¹", "sin¹", "sik¹" etc.
- Enter "?aa" if you want to search all characters whose pronunciation ends with "aa" and which is two or three letters long, e.g. "aa", "jaa", "haa" etc.
- Enter "po*" if you want to search all characters whose pronunciation starts with "po", e.g. "po", "pok", "pong" etc.
- Enter "*aa" if you want to search all characters whose pronunciation ends with "aa", e.g. "aa", "haa", "ngaa" etc.
Character Search
Instead of Pinyin or Jyutping, you can also enter directly the characters to search for. You can use simplified or traditional characters.
Example:
Entering "中文" lists the two characters 中 and 文.
English, German, French, Hungarian
To search for Chinese characters, you can also enter English, German, French, or Hungarian text depending on the settings. A full-text search of the corresponding translations of all characters in the dictionary takes place. For example, if you enter the word "land", all characters that contain the word "land" in the translation. Entering multiple words, separated by spaces, will list all the characters that contain all words entered in their translation. The order of the listed entries depends on the sort settings in the search settings.
Wildcards are also supported. You can use the following placeholders:
| Wildcard | Description |
|---|---|
| ? | Represents a placeholder for zero or one letter. |
| * | Represents a placeholder for zero or more letters. |
You can enter wildcards anywhere in the search text, at the beginning, at the end, or in the middle of the search text, for example:
- Enter "a?" if you want to search for all characters that contain words beginning with "a" in their translation that are one or two letters long, e.g. "a", "ah", "at" etc.
- Enter "a*" if you want to search for all characters that contain words beginning with "a" in their translation that are one or more letters long, e.g. "a", "at", "air" etc.
- Enter "?a" if you want to search for all characters that contain words ending with "a" in their translation that are one or two letters long, e.g. "a", "ha" etc.
- Enter "*a" if you want to search for all characters that contain words ending with "a" in their translation that are one or more letters long, e.g. "a", "sea", "China" etc.