ABC Chinese Dictionary Series

Actual or possible users of the dictionaries are invited to present comments, questions, and suggestions for correction or improvement to the Editorial Committee of the ABC Dictionaries by e-mailing abcdict@hawaii.edu or wenlin@wenlin.com

The ABC Chinese Dictionary Series aims to provide a complete set of convenient and reliable reference tools for all those who need to deal with Chinese words and characters. A unique feature of the series is the adoption of a strict alphabetical order, the fastest and most user-friendly way to look up words in a Chinese dictionary. Most volumes contain graphically oriented indices to assist in finding characters whose pronunciation is not known. The ABC dictionaries and compilations rely on the best expertise available in China and North America and are based on the application of radically new strategies for the study of Sinitic languages and the Chinese writing system, including the first clear distinction between the etymology of the words, on the one hand, and the evolution of shapes, sounds, and meanings of characters, on the other. While aiming for conciseness and accuracy, series volumes also strive to apply the highest standards of lexicography in all respects, including compatibility with computer technology for information processing.

The dictionaries published by the University of Hawai‘i Press and can be ordered through its website

Educational software that includes the ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary is published by Wenlin Institute.

Forthcoming works in the series include:

ABC English-Chinese/Chinese-English Dictionary

John DeFrancis and Zhang Yanyin, eds. Forthcoming from University of Hawaii Press (2006).

This dictionary is aimed at Chinese students of English and English-speaking students of Chinese. It has a number of distinctive features:

  1. This student-oriented dictionary is unique in that its two sections, English-Chinese (E-C) and Chinese-English (C-E), together comprise a self-contained volume in which every Chinese and English expression used in a definition or example of usage in one section can be found as a headword or sub-headword in one or the other section.
  2. In comparison with comparable works, both sections contain more of everything—more entries (headwords and sub-headwords), more illustrative or explanatory material, and more special features (noted below).
  3. As a special aid for student learners of Chinese and English, E-C/C-E makes use of the PRC graded vocabulary lists prepared under the auspices of the PRC State language Commission to (a) indicate in the main body of the dictionary the relative (A, B, C, D) importance of the 8,822 basic Chinese terms and the 6,500 basic English terms; and (b) present as appendixes the two graded Chinese and English vocabulary lists to guide student prioritization of basic vocabulary in each language.
  4. As a further aid for students of Chinese, for all pinyin transcriptions, E-C/C-E, uniquely among dictionaries, indicates changes in tone while preserving the original tone (e.g., suo3yi3, suo2yi3).
  5. E-C/C-E carries forward the many special features of the AC series of dictionaries, chief among them the strict alphabetic order of the pinyin entries as by far the simplest and fastest way to look up a term whose pronunciation is known.
  6. A website has been created to provided users of the E-C/C-E dictionary with further information about this and other works which comprise the ABC Chinese Dictionary Series. It also provides a means for dictionary users to submit comments, questions, and suggestions for corrections and improvement. The website can be accessed at chinesestudies.hawaii.edu/abc. The dictionary project also has an e-mail address: abcdict@hawaii.edu

ABC Dictionary of Chinese Character Structure and Phonology

By David Prager Branner.

A Handbook of ‘Phags-pa Chinese

W. South Coblin
Available from November 2006.

ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese.

Axel Schuessler, ed.