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== 🛠 Entry Construction Tools ==
== Entry Construction Tools ==


=== Corpus & Usage Research ===
=== Corpus & Usage Research ===
* '''Google Books Ngram Viewer''' — Track historical frequency of words.
 
* '''COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English)''' — Modern usage patterns.
* '''Google Books Ngram Viewer''' — [https://books.google.com/ngrams Google Ngram Viewer] — Track historical frequency of words.
* '''British National Corpus''' — British English usage data.
* '''COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English)''' — [https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/ english-corpora.org/coca] — Modern American English usage patterns.
* '''Sketch Engine''' — Advanced corpus querying (professional tool).
* '''British National Corpus''' — [https://www.english-corpora.org/bnc/ english-corpora.org/bnc] — British English usage data.
* '''Sketch Engine''' — [https://www.sketchengine.eu/ sketchengine.eu] — Advanced corpus querying tool.
 
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=== Etymology Research ===
=== Etymology Research ===
* '''Online Etymology Dictionary''' — Quick-reference etymology.
 
* '''Wiktionary''' — Collaborative etymology chains.
* '''Online Etymology Dictionary''' — [https://www.etymonline.com/ etymonline.com] — Quick-reference etymology.
* '''Perseus Digital Library''' — Classical language references.
* '''Wiktionary''' — [https://www.wiktionary.org/ wiktionary.org] — Collaborative etymology chains.
* Historical dictionaries (OED, Webster 1828, etc.).
* '''Perseus Digital Library''' — [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ perseus.tufts.edu] — Classical Greek and Latin texts.
* '''Oxford English Dictionary (OED)''' — [https://www.oed.com/ oed.com] — Historical English dictionary (subscription required).
* '''Webster’s 1828 Dictionary''' — [https://webstersdictionary1828.com/ webstersdictionary1828.com] — Early American English reference.
 
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=== Pronunciation Tools ===
=== Pronunciation Tools ===
* IPA Chart resources
 
* Forvo (crowdsourced pronunciation)
* '''IPA Chart''' — [https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/content/full-ipa-chart ipa chart]
* Wiktionary audio archives
* '''Forvo''' — [https://forvo.com/ forvo.com] — Crowdsourced pronunciation recordings.
* '''Wiktionary Audio Archives''' — [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pronunciation commons pronunciation files]
 
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=== Frequency & Register Checking ===
=== Frequency & Register Checking ===
* Word frequency lists
 
* Academic corpora
* '''Word Frequency Lists''' — [https://www.wordfrequency.info/ wordfrequency.info]
* Literary corpora
* '''Google Scholar''' — [https://scholar.google.com/ scholar.google.com] — Academic register reference.
* '''Project Gutenberg''' — [https://www.gutenberg.org/ gutenberg.org] — Literary corpora for historical usage.


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== 🧠 Neologism Design ==
== Neologism Design ==
 
Coining new words requires discipline, not whimsy.


=== Neologism Communities ===
=== Neologism Communities ===
* Reddit neologismhelp
* Lemmy neologismhelp
* Linguistics forums


=== Principles of Sound Coinage ===
* '''Reddit''' — [https://www.reddit.com/r/NeologismsHelp/ r/NeologismsHelp]
* Morphological consistency
* '''Lemmy''' — [https://lemmy.world/c/NeologismHelp c/NeologismHelp]
* Transparent affix use
* Linguistics forums and word-creation discussion groups
* Etymological plausibility
* Phonetic elegance
* Semantic necessity


A good neologism fills a gap.
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A great neologism feels inevitable.


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== Recommended Dictionaries & Glossaries ==


== 📚 Recommended Dictionaries & Glossaries ==
=== General Dictionaries ===


MorDictionary respects tradition while refusing to be boring.
* '''Oxford English Dictionary (OED)''' — [https://www.oed.com/ oed.com]
* '''Merriam-Webster''' — [https://www.merriam-webster.com/ merriam-webster.com]
* '''Wiktionary''' — [https://www.wiktionary.org/ wiktionary.org]
* '''Wordnik''' — [https://www.wordnik.com/ wordnik.com]


=== General Dictionaries ===
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* Oxford English Dictionary
* Merriam-Webster
* Wiktionary
* Wordnik


=== Specialized & Historical ===
=== Specialized & Historical ===
* Green’s Dictionary of Slang
* Webster’s 1828
* Regional glossaries
* Field-specific glossaries (legal, nautical, theological, technical)


Each dictionary has a temperament.
* '''Green’s Dictionary of Slang''' — [https://greensdictofslang.com/ greensdictofslang.com]
Study their strengths.
* '''Webster’s 1828 Dictionary''' — [https://webstersdictionary1828.com/ webstersdictionary1828.com]
Observe their weaknesses.
* '''Phrontistery''' — [https://phrontistery.info/ phrontistery.info] — Obscure and rare vocabulary collections
Avoid their dullness.
* '''The Grandiloquent Dictionary''' — [https://www.islandnet.com/~egbird/dict/words.pdf PDF edition] — Unusual and sesquipedalian words
* '''Oxford Reference''' — [https://www.oxfordreference.com/ oxfordreference.com] — Subject glossaries (legal, theological, technical, etc.)


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== 🏛 Collaborative Lexicography ==
== Collaborative Lexicography Philosophy ==
 
Dictionary-making is no longer confined to ivory towers.
 
It is communal.


* Wiktionary (open lexicography)
Dictionary-making is no longer confined to ivory towers, but maybe we should try to minimize the slop a smidge. I mean, I love [https://www.urbandictionary.com/ Urban Dictionary], but sometimes it’s a bit much.
* Community glossaries
* Language preservation projects
* Personal lexicographic blogs


MorDictionary encourages participation, experimentation, and preservation.
Let’s have fun, but let’s try to make a functional dictionary at the same time.


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== 📜 Philosophy ==
== Philosophy ==


We oppose boring dictionaries.
We oppose boring dictionaries.

Latest revision as of 04:04, 20 February 2026

Dictionary Craft Tools

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A practical guide for lexicographers, wordsmiths, and neologism architects.

MorDictionary does not merely define words.

We build them. We preserve them. We refine them. We sometimes invent them.

This page collects tools, communities, and reference materials useful for crafting dictionary entries, mining example sentences, and coining neologisms.

Entry Construction Tools

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Corpus & Usage Research

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Etymology Research

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  • Online Etymology Dictionary — etymonline.com — Quick-reference etymology.
  • Wiktionary — wiktionary.org — Collaborative etymology chains.
  • Perseus Digital Library — perseus.tufts.edu — Classical Greek and Latin texts.
  • Oxford English Dictionary (OED) — oed.com — Historical English dictionary (subscription required).
  • Webster’s 1828 Dictionary — webstersdictionary1828.com — Early American English reference.

Pronunciation Tools

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Frequency & Register Checking

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Example Sentence Craft

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Sentence Mining Communities

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Neologism Design

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Neologism Communities

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General Dictionaries

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Specialized & Historical

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Collaborative Lexicography Philosophy

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Dictionary-making is no longer confined to ivory towers, but maybe we should try to minimize the slop a smidge. I mean, I love Urban Dictionary, but sometimes it’s a bit much.

Let’s have fun, but let’s try to make a functional dictionary at the same time.

Philosophy

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We oppose boring dictionaries.

A dictionary entry should:

  • Inform
  • Contextualize
  • Illuminate
  • Delight

A lexicon is not merely a record. It is a living archive of thought.

See Also

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MorDictionary — A project of the Moribund Institute.

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