Want to Learn Chinese Characters the Smart Way?
A revolutionary new learners' dictionary for Pleco!
The Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters
The #1 resource for learning Chinese characters.
Essentials Edition:
4100+ Characters
Simplified and Traditional characters
Detailed explanation for every character
System-level Info showing you the real sound and meaning connections between characters
Meaning tree for every character: how are all the meanings related to each other?
Ancient forms for all semantic components
Expert Edition:
The Expert Edition includes everything in Essentials, plus extensive information about the origin, evolution, and other historical information for every character.
You'll get the current version of the Essentials Edition, plus all the Expert entries we've finished so far (currently 410). We'll be adding new entries regularly, and you'll get all of those updates until it's finished!
"The best available resource for finding reliable and clear information about Chinese characters."
-Olle Linge, HackingChinese.com
A revolutionary new learners' dictionary for Pleco!
Developed by a team of linguists and expert teachers, our dictionary teaches you how Chinese characters ACTUALLY work, based on the latest research.
Learning the real underlying logic of the writing system will more than double your learning efficiency and allow you to see the real sound and meaning connections between characters.
Easy to set up
Step 1: Order
When you check out from our store, you'll get an order confirmation email and an email with an activation code and instructions.
Step 2: Get Pleco
If you don't already have Pleco installed on your iOS or Android device, install it! It's an amazing free Chinese dictionary app, and our dictionary is an add-on.
Step 3: Activate
Go to pleco.com/activate with your activation code, follow the instructions, and you'll be all set! Enjoy learning Chinese characters the Outlier way!
What our students are saying
"My best investment"
"It is hard to put a number on it, but my guess is that it made my character learning 10 times more effective, so it has saved me many many hours."
- Redditor u/huajiaoyou
"The most helpful thing"
"It's very fun to learn about the history of the characters and the sound/meaning breakdowns really do help memorization. Incredible."
- Michael M.
"Thank you so much"
"Just wanted to express my gratitude for this dictionary. This has been the single most helpful study aid for my Chinese Learning journey."
- Brian K.
Get the Dictionary
An add-on for Pleco, a free Chinese dictionary app for iOS and Android
Full explanations for 4000+ characters
Stroke order diagrams for thousands of characters
Simplified and traditional
Meaning trees: see how each meaning is related to the others
Understand the real logic of Chinese characters
All written by a PhD in Chinese!
About Us
Dr. Ash Henson, MSc
Primary Author
To say that Ash is a language enthusiast is an understatement. He speaks Dutch, Mandarin, Cantonese and German, all in varying states of decay. In addition to these, he has learned to some level or another another 7 languages and is currently working on Japanese and European Portuguese. He sees language learning as a chance to experiment. The goal is to find a better way (either getting the same result in a way that takes less time, or getting a better result). And he’s been at it for 30 years! He got his Ph.D. in Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University in paleography and historical linguistics. He was also in the P.hD. program for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language for six years.
John Renfroe
Contributor
Before co-founding Outlier, John studied Linguistics and Paleography in the Graduate Institute of Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University. He co-founded and later ran the Taipei Classical Chinese Reading Group, a weekly reading group consisting mostly of graduate Sinology students from western universities. He also taught classical Chinese to members of the group who had no previous instruction in the language. His coursework and research focused on excavated Warring States bamboo texts, historical Chinese character morphology, and the Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字 and its commentaries and criticism. He has taught courses on Classical Chinese, Early Chinese History and Archaeology, Paleography, Calligraphy, and more.
What's in the Current Version?
| Essentials Edition | Expert Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials Entries | ~4100 | ~4100 |
| Form Explanations | ~4100 | ~4100 |
| Component Breakdowns | ~2900 | ~2900 |
| Meaning Trees | ~4100 | ~4100 |
| Stroke Order Diagrams | ~1700 | ~1700 |
| Ancient Forms | ~530 | ~740 |
| Expert Entries | 25 | ~410 |
Note: Numbers for Chinese are an approximate average of entries between Simplified and Traditional, since each version differs slightly.
Expert Entries included in the Current Version
Chinese (traditional)
需,持,會,舞,無,是,前,也,剪,得,高,軟,能,的,不,在,我,他,為,地,到,以,之,才,弋,王,士,止,童,辛,又,日,寸,寺,時,京,尤,丵,對,⻏,⻖,貝,咼,過,中,就,舌(舌),音,言,骨,弓,殳,發,另,冎,乍,用,首,道,作,刀,𠮠,肉,月,夕,別,史,吏,使,事,同,凡,來,多,外,卜,回,沒,水,有,民,牛,臣,目,罒(目),看,見,視,玉,現,望,示,社,工,巨,矩,興,耳,亡,𡈼,人,麥,夂,夊,斤,向,宀,亻,儿,了,卩,口,米,糸,矢,曰,甘,木,採,采,釆,禾,田,番,審,心,必,戈,或,國,域,新,家,豕,巠,經,七,甲,十,盾,古,固,個,个,介,疒,和,女,要,角,西,子,于,行,戌,丁,城,成,舟,方,耒,力,幺,么,穆,信,壬,肩,六,辶,上,出,飛,斗,升,你,爾,戶,今,而,燕,受,適,這,萬,竊,於,烏,鳥,下,自,年,犬,山,火,灬,然,戎,大,智,知,老,孝,教,五,爻,學,三,雨,雲,云,氣,气,非,帚,奪,一,所,青,𣏟,林,麻,麼,者,合,生,丂,可,包,哥,歌,號,何,㐱,丰,二,些,从,体,八,其,冉,分,動,卯,卵,去,否,咅,囗,圍,基,天,好,如,定,實,尌,小,少,己,已,巳,巾,希,從,微,徵,想,旬,期,本,束,東,樹,正,此,毋,毌,母,沙,法,犮,理,皆,相,着,睘,禮,箸,聯,著,衣,袁,豊,豐,貫,走,起,車,軍,進,還,那,部,都,里,重,長,門,隹,面,韋,體,鼓,且,丙,並,什,入,內,全,兩,冊,刂,利,則,勿,問,囧,圣,她,妳,嬭,尹,并,弟,征,很,德,忄,性,情,惪,手,扌,政,文,明,書,最,業,殸,殺,煞,牙,物,犭,狠,狼,皮,直,磬,祭,竹,第,筆,等,納,聖,聲,聽,聿,艮,良,衤,被,豆,閑,閒,間,頁,頭,髟,髮,鼎,
Chinese (simplified)
需,持,会,舞,是,前,也,剪,软,得,高,无,能,的,不,在,我,他,为,地,到,以,之,才,弋,王,士,止,童,辛,又,日,寸,寺,时,京,尤,丵,对,⻏,⻖,贝,过,中,就,舌(舌),音,言,骨,弓,殳,发,另,冎,乍,用,首,道,作,刀,肉,月(肉),月(月),夕,别,史,吏,使,事,同,凡,来,多,外,卜,回,没,水,有,民,牛,臣,目,罒(目),看,见,视,玉,现,望,示,社,工,巨,矩,兴,耳,亡,𡈼,人,麦,夂,斤,向,宀,了,卩,亻,儿,口,米,糸,矢,曰,甘,木,采,釆,禾,田,番,审,心,必,戈,或,国,域,新,家,豕,𢀖,经,七,甲,十,盾,古,固,个,介,疒,和,女,要,角,西,子,于,行,戌,丁,城,成,舟,方,耒,力,幺,么,穆,信,壬,肩,六,國,辶,上,出,飞,斗,升,你,尔,户,今,而,燕,受,适,这,万,窃,乌,鸟,下,自,年,犬,山,火,灬,然,戎,大,智,知,老,孝,教,五,爻,学,三,雨,云,气,非,帚,夺,一,所,青,𣏟,林,者,合,生,丂,可,包,哥,歌,何,麻,於,东,丰,二,些,从,体,八,其,冉,军,分,动,卯,卵,去,否,咅,囗,围,基,天,好,如,定,实,尌,小,少,己,已,巳,巾,希,微,徵,想,旬,期,本,束,树,正,此,毋,毌,母,沙,法,犮,理,皆,相,着,睘,礼,箸,著,衣,袁,豊,贯,走,起,车,还,进,那,部,都,里,重,长,门,隹,面,韦,鼓.且,丙,业,两,书,什,入,全,内,册,刂,则,利,勿,听,囧,圣,声,头,她,妳,嬭,尹,并,弟,征,很,德,忄,性,情,惪,手,扌,政,文,明,最,杀,殸,煞,牙,物,犭,狠,狼,皮,直,祭,竹,笔,第,等,纳,聿,艮,良,衤,被,豆,閒,问,闲,间,页,髟,鼎,𥫗,磬,
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