9 Best Hanzi Dictionaries for Mandarin Chinese Learners | FluentU Chinese Blog (2024)

9 Best Hanzi Dictionaries for Mandarin Chinese Learners | FluentU Chinese Blog (1)

By 9 Best Hanzi Dictionaries for Mandarin Chinese Learners | FluentU Chinese Blog (2)Em Casalena Last updated:

One big aspect of Chinese that leaves potential learners (and those who have been learning Mandarin for quite some time) stumped is汉字 (hàn zì— Chinese characters).

With hanzi, as with any other part of learning Mandarin, you just have to shed what you think you know about the language and adapt.

One tool you’ll absolutely need in your arsenal for getting the hang of hanzi is a Chinese hanzi dictionary.

Not all hanzi dictionaries are perfect, which is why we put together a list of the best dictionaries out there.

All of these awesome hanzi dictionaries are available online and can easily be accessed from your tablet, computer or smartphone.

Contents

  • 1. MDBG Dictionary
  • 2. YellowBridge
  • 3. FluentU
  • 4. Cojack
  • 5. HanziCraft
  • 6. SmartHanzi
  • 7. Chinese-Tools.com – Search by Radical
  • 8. Zhongwen
  • 9. Xiaoma
  • Why You Need a Chinese Hanzi Dictionary

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

1. MDBG Dictionary

MDBG’s Chinese dictionary is a simple in-browser interface that allows the user to look up hanzi, pinyin and English words. Simply type what character you’re looking for, select “Simplified Chinese” or “Traditional Chinese” in the drop-down menu and voila!

For example, a search for “cat” will bring up not just the hanzi and pinyin for the feline but also the sound a cat makes, slang terms that use “cat” and different types of cats.

One feature that makes this dictionary unique is that characters that will show up on the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) will be noted along with which HSK level test each will appear on. A great selection for those studying for any HSK exam.

2. YellowBridge

YellowBridge is extremely useful for advanced Chinese learners who are learning about radicals, which are the components of hanzi that often have similar meanings. Understanding radicals is incredibly handy for translating hanzi through components and context clues, especially while traveling abroad.

You can also look up hanzi through common character structures. Simply type out or select the radical or character structure of your choosing, select whether it’s on the right or left and search through all the hanzi the dictionary brings up.

In addition to this super-useful feature, you can look up Chinese to English, pinyin to Chinese and English to Chinese translations with ease. You can even use a voice recording feature to look up words. How cool is that?

3. FluentU

FluentU isn’t exactly a hanzi dictionary, but there are a couple of ways that learners can use it like one.

First off, when learning through the FluentU video platform, you never need to use a separate dictionary. You can just search a word and find video clips where it’s used in context.

You’ll also get its translation, part of speech, a corresponding image and example sentences. In addition, each dictionary entry includes audio pronunciation by a native speaker at both normal and slowed-down speeds.

If you don’t have a specific word in mind but want to learn new vocabulary on a certain topic, you can easily find a video on that topic and then learn new words through its interactive subtitles.

You can create flashcard sets of words you’re currently learning and take personalized vocabulary quizzes to test your knowledge. If you don’t just want to look up characters but actually learn them, FluentU is the perfect option.

4. Cojack

Cojack is a handy little hanzi resource that boasts radicals in chart form. Each group of radicals is sectioned off into 17 respective radicals typically found in Chinese. To explore a radical, simply click on one. You’ll be presented with a bunch of characters that contain that radical.

Upon clicking any character, you’ll be brought to a page where you can find all the different words and phrases that contain that character, along with its pinyin and a step-by-step animation showing you how to write it.

This resource is great to use if you’re reading a physical book and can’t copy and paste unfamiliar hanzi into a search engine to find out its definition. Simply look for one of the character’s radicals and explore the different words that it’s a part of.

It’s also a great way to pick apart hanzi you already know to better understand what its radicals mean, which is a fantastic hack for understanding the gist of unfamiliar hanzi in a travel setting.

5. HanziCraft

If you’re interested in knowing everything about a particular character rather than a basic definition, HanziCraft is worth looking into.

Copy and paste or type a hanzi character, hit “Explore” and you’ll be presented with a page packed full of just about every fact you could possibly want to know about that particular character.

This includes its frequency in common Chinese conversation, its radicals and definitions, pinyin, example words and phrases, phonetic clues and decomposition levels.

6. SmartHanzi

Many of the dictionaries we’ve covered are in-browser only, which is a bit of a bummer for religious smartphone app users! This is where SmartHanzi comes in. It’s available as an app on just about every device you could possibly be using.

Using SmartHanzi is pretty cut-and-dried. Type in a hanzi character and click “Enter.” You’ll get all the info you need on that character, including the definition, pinyin, variations and etymological lessons for advanced students.

You can also look up Mandarin definitions in English, German and French. Outside of the hanzi dictionary, SmartHanzi offers tips and tricks for learning Mandarin.

7. Chinese-Tools.com – Search by Radical

Chinese-Tools is similar to Cojack in that it’s radical-based. The main difference is that your definitions will be presented to you in hanzi, making this a great tool for advanced learners! You can also search by pinyin or full characters.

8. Zhongwen

Out of every entry on this list, Zhongwen is probably the most ancient of them all. Still, why stop using something if it works well?

Some learners benefit from breaking hanzi down into outlined categories. Zhongwen helps with this. You can search for a character by English, pinyin, radicals or the character itself.

In the middle column, you’ll be able to see every possible definition for that character. On the far right column, you’ll see where that character’s place on the radical map lies.

This is a greatresource for learning more about where characters come from and how they relate to other words.

9. Xiaoma

Do you use Chinese social media like Weibo or WeChat? If so, that’s great! Connecting with native speakers is a great way to improve your Mandarin typing and reading skills.

However, there’s definitely going to be a time where your friend sends you a phrase in hanzi that leaves you scratching your head. Maybethe rise of Chinese internet slangwill be to blame. Luckily, Xiaoma is here to help.

This little dictionary is unique in that Chinese speakers, as well as Chinese learners, can submit new words and character combinations. It currently has nearly 100,000 words and phrases that you can look up through characters or pinyin.

You can also check out the most and least frequently used characters online as well as words and characters that will typically be found on the HSK exam.

Why You Need a Chinese Hanzi Dictionary

  • When learning written Chinese, you’ll need a point of reference for unfamiliar characters.Having a Chinese hanzi dictionary bookmarked and easy to access makes improving your vocabulary prowess way easier.
  • Hanzi dictionaries usually include English and pinyin as well, so you can learn the spoken version of a character. Knowing the pinyin and English translations of a Chinese character is vital. Online Chinese dictionaries can make accessing full translations of a character a quick and simple process.
  • Beginner, intermediate and advanced learners should always have a Chinese dictionary handy when writing to improve fluency and look up tricky hanzi.Whether you’re a newbie or you’ve been learning Mandarin for years, you’re bound to come across hanzi that you don’t recognize. Chinese hanzi dictionaries can help.

Getting stuck on particularly difficult or unfamiliar hanzi is a thingof the past.

With these fabulous online tools, you can now access just about every hanzi under the sun in just a fewclicks.

Good luck on your language learning journey, and don’t forget to write the particularly tricky characters down to study later!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

9 Best Hanzi Dictionaries for Mandarin Chinese Learners | FluentU Chinese Blog (2024)

FAQs

What is the best Mandarin dictionary? ›

1. Pleco. Pleco is one of the most popular Chinese dictionaries thanks to its user-friendly and straightforward format. Pleco's functionality is simple: It helps you translate, fast.

How many Hanzi do Chinese students learn? ›

Native Chinese speakers

At elementary school, Chinese students are expected to learn about 2,500 characters. This increases by 1,000 at middle and high school. When Chinese students have finished high school, they typically know about 4,500 characters.

How many Mandarin words are there? ›

How many Chinese words are there? It is estimated that there are around 100,000 words in modern Chinese, yet the Hanyu Da Cidian dictionary contains 370,000+ words, including less frequently used or specialized terms.

What is the best quality Mandarin? ›

Imperial – Australia's most popular commercially grown mandarin, it is also ideal for the backyard. It produces excellent quality fruit.

What is the most useful Chinese dialect to learn? ›

So Which Chinese Language Should I Learn? Mandarin is the lingua franca and the sole official language of China, so if you plan on doing business in China or traveling around the country, Mandarin is the language to learn.

How many Hanzi does the average Chinese person know? ›

How many characters are there? Altogether there are over 50,000 characters, though a comprehensive modern dictionary will rarely list over 20,000 in use. An educated Chinese person will know about 8,000 characters, but you will only need about 2-3,000 to be able to read a newspaper.

How many Hanzi to be fluent? ›

To get by in daily life, you need 500 to 750 characters. In terms of newspapers and popular media, there are 2,000 to 3,000 Chinese characters in everyday use. IMO, the best measure of the number of Chinese characters is a dictionary of the modern language. These have 12,000 to 13,000 characters.

Can I learn Chinese without Hanzi? ›

The most immediate reason for learning Chinese characters is that you can't read Mandarin Chinese without them. Even with the tones to distinguish between homophones, understanding anything but the most basic texts soon becomes impossible with pinyin alone.

How long does it take to learn Hanzi? ›

It takes about 4-7 years (roughly 2200 to 4000 hours) to become fluent in every aspect of the language, if you spend at least an hour and a half to study every day. However, it's quite common for learners to become more fluent in some areas than others depending on how they allotted their study time.

How do Chinese people learn Hanzi? ›

Chinese character literacy in both China and Japan is taught by rote memorization, where schoolchildren become proficient at writing characters by writing them by hand repeatedly.

What is the most common word in Mandarin? ›

For example, the most well-known word in Chinese is probably 你好, or nǐ hǎo in pinyin. This literally translates to “you good”. Or in this case, “hello”!

Is Mandarin Chinese a dying language? ›

Mandarin is now being spoken by more than 80% of China's population, up from 70% a decade ago. Last month, China's state council vowed to increase the figure to 85% within the next four years.

What percentage of Chinese can speak Mandarin? ›

Undoubtedly Mainland China has the highest number of Mandarin speakers in the world, with more than 80 percent of the population following a uniform Mandarin language.

What is a trusted Mandarin translator? ›

Google Translate English to Mandarin

Google Translate is the most popular free online translation tool.

What is the most popular translator in China? ›

  • Google Translate: Best for fast understanding.
  • Waygo: Best for reading Chinese on the go.
  • SayHi: Best for instant interpretation.
  • Papago: Best for keeping your personality and tone.
  • iTranslate: Best for Chinese language students.
Jan 30, 2024

Is it better to say Chinese or Mandarin? ›

The “Mandarin vs. Chinese” distinction is crucial. While Chinese is a broad term encompassing various dialects, Mandarin refers explicitly to the standardized form used across China and Taiwan. This standardization allows for effective communication among speakers of different Chinese dialects.

What is the hardest Mandarin word? ›

Ok, let's get started!
  • 四十 (sì shí) "forty" ...
  • 姜 (jiāng) "ginger" ...
  • 日 (rì) "day" ...
  • 汉语 (hàn yǔ) "Chinese language" ...
  • 知道 (zhī dao) "know" ...
  • 脚 (jiǎo) "foot” And also it can be used for ”feet”. ...
  • 轮 (lún) "wheel" And it makes up the word 轮胎 (lún tāi) “tire”. ...
  • 辞职 (cí zhí) "resign"

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