Dictionary

A dictionary is a written work that collects words of a language, usually arranged alphabetically, and provides for each word its meaning, explanation, or translation. It may also give information on how a word is pronounced, its part of speech (noun, verb, adjective), the origin of the word, and examples of use.

Dictionaries are used in education, translation, writing, and linguistic research. They may be produced in printed book form, in digital form on the internet, or as a telephone application. The scholarly field concerned with dictionary-making is called lexicography.

Types

A monolingual dictionary defines a word in the same language. A bilingual dictionary translates words from one language into another, for example Somali–English. There are also specialized dictionaries confined to a single field of knowledge such as law, medicine, or technology, and etymological dictionaries that trace the history of words.

Structure of entries

Each entry typically begins with a headword. This may be followed by pronunciation marks, grammatical notes, one or more numbered meanings, and example phrases. When a word has multiple meanings, the editor separates common from specialized ones. Some dictionaries also include synonyms and antonyms.

Preparation methods

Modern dictionary-making relies on a corpus, a large collection of written and spoken texts processed by computer. Analysis of the corpus shows how often a word appears and which words it commonly accompanies, helping determine the meanings to be recorded. The editorial team also decides the scope of the word list and the level of detail.

Somali dictionaries

Following the adoption of the official Somali orthography in 1972, Somali dictionaries were produced, both monolingual and bilingual in Somali–English, Somali–Arabic, and Somali–Italian. Recent projects include digital word collections available on the internet.