Dictionary Building Resources: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:47, 20 February 2026

Dictionary Craft Tools

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

Corpus & Usage Research

Google Books Ngram Viewer — Google Ngram Viewer

 Track historical frequency of words.

COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English) — english-corpora.org/coca

 Modern American English usage patterns.

British National Corpus — english-corpora.org/bnc

 British English usage data.

Sketch Engine — sketchengine.eu

 Advanced corpus querying (professional tool).

Etymology Research

Online Etymology Dictionary — etymonline.com

 Quick-reference etymology.

Wiktionary — wiktionary.org

 Collaborative etymology chains and multilingual entries.

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

IPA Chart (International Phonetic Alphabet) — ipa chart

Forvo — forvo.com

 Crowdsourced pronunciation recordings.

Wiktionary Audio Archives — commons pronunciation category

 Community-recorded pronunciation files.

Frequency & Register Checking

Word Frequency Lists — wordfrequency.info

Google Scholar — scholar.google.com

 Academic register reference.

Project Gutenberg — gutenberg.org

 Literary corpora for historical usage.

Example Sentence Craft

Sentence Mining Communities

r/SentenceMiners (Reddit)
c/SentenceMiners (Lemmy)

🧠 Neologism Design

Coining new words requires discipline, not whimsy.

Neologism Communities

Reddit neologismhelp
Lemmy neologismhelp
Linguistics forums

Principles of Sound Coinage

Morphological consistency
Transparent affix use
Etymological plausibility
Phonetic elegance
Semantic necessity

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

📚 Recommended Dictionaries & Glossaries

MorDictionary respects tradition while refusing to be boring.

General Dictionaries

Oxford English Dictionary
Merriam-Webster
Wiktionary
Wordnik

Specialized & Historical

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

Each dictionary has a temperament. Study their strengths. Observe their weaknesses. Avoid their dullness.

🏛 Collaborative Lexicography

Dictionary-making is no longer confined to ivory towers.

It is communal.

Wiktionary (open lexicography)
Community glossaries
Language preservation projects
Personal lexicographic blogs

MorDictionary encourages participation, experimentation, and preservation.

📜 Philosophy

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.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 ----
-== 🛠 Entry Construction Tools ==
+== Entry Construction Tools ==
 === 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]
-* '''British National Corpus''' — British English usage data.
+  Track historical frequency of words.
-* '''Sketch Engine''' — Advanced corpus querying (professional tool).
+* '''COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English)''' — [https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/ english-corpora.org/coca]
+  Modern American English usage patterns.
+* '''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 (professional tool).
+----
 === Etymology Research ===
-* '''Online Etymology Dictionary''' — Quick-reference etymology.
-* '''Wiktionary''' — Collaborative etymology chains.
+* '''Online Etymology Dictionary''' — [https://www.etymonline.com/ etymonline.com]
-* '''Perseus Digital Library''' — Classical language references.
+  Quick-reference etymology.
-* Historical dictionaries (OED, Webster 1828, etc.).
+* '''Wiktionary''' — [https://www.wiktionary.org/ wiktionary.org]
+  Collaborative etymology chains and multilingual entries.
+* '''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.
+----
 === Pronunciation Tools ===
-* IPA Chart resources
-* Forvo (crowdsourced pronunciation)
+* '''IPA Chart (International Phonetic Alphabet)''' — [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 category]
+  Community-recorded pronunciation files.
+----
 === 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.
 ----