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Pleco Chinese Dictionary

Pleco is the ultimate Chinese learning companion - an integrated dictionary / document reader / flashcard system with fullscreen handwriting input and live OCR, from a company that's been making the world's best mobile Chinese learning apps since 2001.
Category Price Seller Device
Reference Free Pleco Inc. iPhone, iPad, iPod

Major features: ($ = paid add-on)

• Amazing dictionaries. We include two lovely free ones built-in: the popular open-source CC-CEDICT, with over 100,000 frequently-updated entries, and our own PLC dictionary, with 78,000 more detailed entries and over 20,000 example sentences (with Pinyin). More than two dozen other dictionaries are available as free and paid ($) add-ons, including licensed titles from well-known publishers like Oxford, Longman, FLTRP, Tuttle, SLPH, and Commercial Press.

• Powerful merged search: look up words by Chinese characters, Pinyin (spaces / tones optional), or English, with support for wildcards and full-text search. And no need to tediously flip between all of those dictionaries to find a word - just type in your search term and instantly get a combined, frequency-sorted result list.

• Links and cross-references: easily look up character components, break down words into individual characters, look up lists of words containing a particular character, search across all dictionaries for example sentences containing a word, and even find synonyms / antonyms using our (experimental) free thesaurus add-on.

• Gorgeous typography: see it for yourself in our screenshots - we think we're one of the best-looking Chinese dictionaries around. Alternate Kai/Song/Xing-style Chinese fonts are also available ($).

• Mainland/HK/Taiwan-friendly: every part of Pleco supports both traditional and simplified characters, headword pronunciations can be shown in Zhuyin as well as in Pinyin, and we even support Cantonese search and display in our PLC dictionary.

• Audio: Hear Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciations for words and example sentences using iOS' free built-in text-to-speech system. We also offer add-ons ($) with native-speaker Mandarin and Cantonese recordings, plus higher-quality Mandarin text-to-speech system options.

• Document Reader: bring in text from the clipboard and tap on words in it to instantly look them up. Upgrade ($) adds support for tap-lookups in text, HTML, DOC, DOCX, PDF, and EPUB files, and in embedded lyrics in songs and podcasts.

• OCR: look up words simply by pointing your device's camera at them, or by tapping on them in a still image. ($)

• Fullscreen handwriting: use your device's whole screen instead of just a little box. Extremely accurate and highly tolerant of stroke order mistakes. ($)

• Flashcards: create a card from any dictionary entry with a single button tap, import premade word lists, use advanced memorization techniques like SRS, and study in a variety of modes including fill-in-the-blanks handwriting and tone drills. ($)

• Stroke Order Diagrams: animations showing you how to draw each character; 500 characters for free, 28,000 in paid ($) version.

• User dictionaries: create new dictionary entries right on your device as you encounter new words. ($)

• Absolutely no ads.

We also offer famously excellent customer support and an active user community at http://www.plecoforums.com. And we're constantly working to make our products better; our sales and customer base have been growing for 15 years across 4 different mobile platforms. You can be confident that we'll still be fixing bugs and adding features for years to come.

Our paid add-ons can be transferred to other devices that link to your iTunes account just like any other paid iTunes content; simply install our free app, open up the "Add-ons" screen, and tap on the "Restore Purchases" button to activate your purchase on each device.

Please contact us at [email protected], via the form at http://www.pleco.com/contact.html, or using the in-app "Contact Support" command with any questions - we'll be delighted to hear from you.

Reviews

Has unrestricted web access and no ability to block it or turn it off
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This needs to be addressed or the app needs to be turned to 17+. I would prefer however the option to turn off the web access.


Excellent Dictionary
DAP1000

A truly useful and easy to use dictionary. Support is fantastic. The inclusion of graded readers for use in the excellent reader is a welcome addition.


太棒了!
Choudofu

I've been studying Chinese for 32 years and am a professional translator, and this is still my go-to app for quick lookups.


Best Chinese Dictionary!
mws57

I spend about 50% of my time in China (Shenzhen) so I use Pleco all the time. I’m often amazed at how complete this dictionary is. Rarely if ever do I come across something that I can’t find immediately on my phone. Wouldn’t do without it. Bravo Pleco!


In a class by itself
Don2010-1

I've been using Pleco since it was on the Palm Pilot. Consistently great product and conscientious customer service. You cannot go wrong with this. Well worth the cost. I started Mandarin in the 70s, speak it fluently, and still find this very useful.


Simply the best
IanBeijing

You can’t find another app like Pleco, period.


Excellent app
ccinchina

I use it everyday and my Chinese has improved beyond my expectations.


Use everyday
WowNiser

Absolutely essential for Chinese language study - I use this app daily to look up words, ‘read‘ articles and increase my vocabulary.


Wonderful set of tools!
Rockbridge31415

Wonderful program, essential to teaching myself to read. Live OCR is wonderful, and having old-form characters helps me link to Japanese forms, which I read freely. (There’s nothing even slightly approaching Pleco for Japanese.) I can now get through material on the auto industry. Thanks!


Superb app
Akwasijorgenson

Indispensable


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