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Dictionary ​

Translating a word tells you what it means in another language. A dictionary tells you what it means. TransOne gives you both. When you enter a single word or a short phrase, a dictionary card appears above the translation, with real definitions, phonetics and example sentences, not just a translation.

You do not turn this on. It happens on its own whenever what you typed looks like a word to look up rather than a sentence to translate. Every word that gets a card is also saved to your Vocabulary notebook, so you can review it later.

The translation window showing a dictionary card above the translation

When the card appears ​

The card appears only for a single word or a short phrase. It never appears for a sentence. TransOne decides this for you:

  • A single word always gets a look-up, as long as it is no longer than 40 characters. A full stop or question mark at the end is ignored, so hello. counts as hello.
  • A phrase of two or three words gets a look-up only if it reads like a name or a term. It counts as a sentence, and gets no card, when it contains a verb, a pronoun, an adverb, a preposition or another small grammar word, including common Chinese, Japanese and Korean ones such as 我, 很, 是, 了, は or です.
  • Anything longer, anything with a line break, and anything with sentence punctuation in the middle is a sentence.

So apple, New York City and 人工智能 get a dictionary card, while How are you?, 我很好 and 昨日は雨 do not. If nothing matches, or no dictionary finds the word, the card just does not show up. There is no error and nothing to dismiss.

What the card shows ​

  • The word itself.
  • Its phonetic spelling, when the source has one.
  • Definitions grouped by part of speech (noun, verb, and so on) and numbered within each group.
  • Example sentences under the definitions, when available.
  • Copy, which copies the card's text, and Speak, which reads the word out loud. See Read aloud for how the voice is chosen.
  • Looked up N times, from the second time you look the same word up. Click it to open the word in your Vocabulary notebook.
  • A bookmark button that sends the word to Eudic or MaiMemo, if you have set up Sync to Wordbook Apps.

Dictionary sources ​

Turn dictionaries on and off in Settings ▸ Dictionary (open Preferences from the menu bar icon, then choose Dictionary in the sidebar). Several can be on at once, and each is consulted for every lookup. Drag them to reorder, or move through the list with ↑ and ↓.

SourceNeeds a keyNotes
System DictionaryNoOffline, no setup. Uses the dictionaries already on your Mac. On by default and listed first on a new install.
Free Dictionary APINoOn by default. Best for English.
WiktionaryNoMany languages.
ECDICT (Offline)NoOffline, English to Chinese. Needs a one-time download (see below).
Youdao DictionaryApp Key, App SecretEnglish and Chinese.
Merriam-WebsterAPI KeyEnglish only. Free for non-commercial use.
OpenAI-CompatibleBase URL, Model, API KeyDefinitions written by an AI model, in any language. Set the same base URL, model and key as your OpenAI-Compatible translation engine.

The System Dictionary ​

System Dictionary looks words up in the dictionaries macOS already has, the same ones the built-in Dictionary app uses. It works offline, needs no key and sends nothing anywhere. To widen what it can answer, open the Dictionary app on your Mac, go to its settings and tick more dictionaries there.

New installs start with it switched on. If you used TransOne before it arrived, add it yourself with Add Dictionary in Settings ▸ Dictionary.

Use ECDICT offline ​

ECDICT is an English-to-Chinese dictionary that runs entirely on your Mac, with no key and no internet. It is the only dictionary that needs a one-time download before it works.

  1. Open Preferences from the menu bar icon and go to Settings ▸ Dictionary.
  2. Turn on ECDICT.
  3. Open its settings. In the Offline Dictionary section you will see a status line and a Download button.
  4. Click Download. The download is about 210 MB and expands to roughly 850 MB on your disk.
  5. Wait for it to finish. The status line updates when it is installed.

Until the database is installed, ECDICT finds nothing. Once it is installed, it works offline forever.

TIP

You can close the settings window while it downloads. The download picks up where it left off when you come back. You can also Cancel a download in progress, and Delete the database later to free up space.

INFO

The ECDICT database is not included in settings backups, because it is large and easy to download again. If you restore a backup on another Mac, download ECDICT again there.

AI definitions ​

The OpenAI-Compatible dictionary source is different from the others: instead of looking a word up in a fixed dictionary, it asks an AI model to write the definition, and it can do so in any language. To use it, enter a Base URL, a Model and an API Key, the same details you use for an AI translation engine. With the default OpenAI Base URL, the button next to Model lists the models you can pick. This is a good fit for languages the other dictionaries do not cover well.

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