Jitendex

Jitendex is a free, offline, and openly licensed Japanese-to-English dictionary. Updated versions with new content are published every week.

The following examples provide an overview of its design and features.

Example 1: Entry Layout

Compare Jitendex with the reigning champ of free Japanese dictionaries, Jisho.org.

Jitendex (viewed in GoldenDict-ng) Jisho.org
Screenshot of the Jitendex entry for ばね in GodlenDict-ng Screenshot of the Jisho.org entry for ばね

Jitendex replaces lengthy explanations with short tags. The full explanation text is accessible by hovering over these tags.
Screenshot of the first sense of the Jitendex entry for ばね in GodlenDict-ng Screenshot of the first sense of the Jisho.org entry for ばね

Repetition is reduced by combining sections with identical metadata tags into a single group.
Screenshot of the second and third senses of the Jitendex entry for ばね in GodlenDict-ng Screenshot of the second and third senses of the Jisho.org entry for ばね

Variant kanji forms and readings in Jitendex are displayed in a tidy table.
Screenshot of the variant forms table in the Jitendex entry for ばね in GodlenDict-ng Screenshot of the "Other Forms" and "Notes" sections of the Jisho.org entry for ばね

Example 2: Pronunciation audio

The MDict version of Jitendex contains high-quality audio clips produced by native Japanese speakers in roughly 8,230 entries. About 930 of those entries contain multiple clips from different speakers (male and female). Most of these audio clips are also accompanied by pitch accent information.

Jitendex (viewed in GoldenDict-ng)
Screenshot of the entry for 弁護士 in Jitendex featuring example audio and pitch accent information Screenshot of the entry for 美容院 in Jitendex featuring two example audio clips and pitch accent information

Example 3: Missing Information

Compare Jitendex with the original version of JMdict for Yomichan.

Jitendex (viewed in Yomitan) JMdict for Yomichan
Screenshot of the Jitendex entry for ケーワイ【ＫＹ】 in Yomitan Screenshot of FooSoft's 'JMdict' entry for ケーワイ【ＫＹ】 in Yomitan

The original version is missing a variety of supplemental information from the EDRDG's JMdict database. This information has all been implemented in Jitendex.

  • Example sentences
  • Usage notes
  • Etymology notes
  • Cross references
  • Antonyms
  • Language of origin information
  • Definition notes (such as "Figuratively", "Literally", etc.)

Example 4: Multiple Search Results

I previously designed and also developed new versions of JMdict/JMnedict dictionaries for Yomichan which addressed the many long-standing issues with the original version displayed in Example 3 above. This new version was sometimes referred to as "JMdict Extra" in order to distinguish it from the original version. Jitendex is a continuation of that project with support for more app formats, more ambitious goals, and more design improvements.

Compare the search results for けいそつ from Jitendex and my previous version of JMdict for Yomichan.

Jitendex (viewed in Yomitan) stephenmk's "JMdict Extra"
Screenshot of the Jitendex entries for けいそつ in Yomitan Screenshot of the 'JMDict Extra' entries for けいそつ in Yomitan

In Jitendex, you can clearly tell that the 軽卒 form (the bottom search result) is found in two different entries. In the first entry it refers to a type of soldier, and in the second entry it is a rare spelling of 軽率 (the top search result).

Installation Instructions

Continue to the downloads page to learn how to install Jitendex.