XML Schema Reference

Element hierarchy

dictionary
└── entry
    ├── ety
    │   ├── pronunciation
    │   │   └── url
    │   └── sense
    │       ├── group
    │       │   └── definition …
    │       ├── definition
    │       │   ├── example
    │       │   │   ├── translation …
    │       │   │   └── pronunciation …
    │       │   └── note
    │       │       └── example …
    │       ├── tag …
    │       ├── translation …
    │       └── form
    │           └── tag …
    └── media …

Repeatable child elements can appear in any order. Unless otherwise noted, elements with a minimum of 0 can be omitted.

---

Elements

<dictionary>

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
id	string	No
name	string	No

Child elements

Element	Min	Max
<entry>	0	unbounded

---

<entry>

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
term	string	Yes
see	entry term	No
rank	unsigned integer	No

Child elements

Element	Min	Max
<ety>	0	unbounded
<media>	0	unbounded

see identifies another entry by its term. When redirect following is enabled, an entry without etymologies can use it to redirect lookup to the referenced entry. rank stores source-specific frequency or importance data; ODict does not prescribe whether larger or smaller numbers are more important.

---

<ety>

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
id	string	No
description	string	No

Child elements

Element	Min	Max
<pronunciation>	0	unbounded
<sense>	0	unbounded

---

<sense>

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
pos	string	No
lemma	string	No

The lemma attribute identifies the headword that is the canonical form for this sense. Its value should match the term of another <entry>.

Because lemma belongs to <sense>, a single entry can link different senses to different headwords. For example, the verb sense of “saw” is a form of “see”, while the noun sense is already its own lemma:

<entry term="saw">
  <ety>
    <sense pos="v" lemma="see">
      <definition value="The past tense of see" />
    </sense>
    <sense pos="n">
      <definition value="A tool with a toothed blade" />
    </sense>
  </ety>
</entry>

<entry term="see">
  <ety>
    <sense pos="v">
      <form kind="past-tense" term="saw" />
      <definition value="To perceive with the eyes" />
    </sense>
  </ety>
</entry>

ODict preserves the lemma reference on the sense for applications to inspect. It does not redirect a lookup automatically. Use see on <entry> when one entry should redirect to another, and use <form> on the lemma’s sense to describe the relationship in the other direction.

Child elements

Element	Min	Max
<group>	0	unbounded
<definition>	0	unbounded
<tag>	0	unbounded
<translation>	0	unbounded
<form>	0	unbounded

---

<form>

Forms describe terms related to a particular sense, such as inflections, conjugations, plurals, comparatives, and superlatives.

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
term	entry term	Yes
kind	string	No

Child elements

Element	Min	Max
<tag>	0	unbounded

ODict recognizes conjugation, inflection, plural, singular, comparative, and superlative as standard kind values. Custom strings are also accepted.

<sense pos="v">
  <form kind="conjugation" term="ran">
    <tag>past-tense</tag>
  </form>
  <form kind="conjugation" term="running">
    <tag>present-participle</tag>
  </form>
  <definition value="To move swiftly on foot" />
</sense>

---

<group>

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
id	string	No
description	string	Yes

Child elements

Element	Min	Max
<definition>	0	unbounded

---

<definition>

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
id	string	No
value	string	Yes

Child elements

Element	Min	Max
<example>	0	unbounded
<note>	0	unbounded

---

<note>

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
id	string	No
value	string	Yes

Child elements

Element	Min	Max
<example>	0	unbounded

---

<example>

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
value	string	Yes

Child elements

Element	Min	Max
<translation>	0	unbounded
<pronunciation>	0	unbounded

---

<translation>

Translations can be attached directly to a sense or to an example.

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
lang	string	Yes
value	string	Yes

Use a language code such as en, fr, or zh-Hant for lang.

---

<tag>

A tag is a text-only child of <sense> or <form>. Tags are open-ended labels for grammatical features, register, dialect, usage, or other source-specific metadata.

<sense pos="n">
  <tag>informal</tag>
  <definition value="A person, especially a man" />
</sense>

---

<pronunciation>

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
kind	string	No
value	string	Yes

Child elements

Element	Min	Max
<url>	0	unbounded

ODict recognizes ipa, pinyin, hiragana, romaji, katakana, yale, jyutping, bopomofo, and hepburn as standard kind values. Custom strings are also accepted.

---

<url>

<url> attaches a media resource to a pronunciation.

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
src	string	Yes
type	string	No
description	string	No

---

<media>

<media> attaches an image, audio file, video, or other resource directly to an entry. It has the same attributes as <url>, but is an entry child rather than a pronunciation child.

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required
src	string	Yes
type	string	No
description	string	No

For both <media> and <url>, src accepts an http:// or https:// URL, or a relative path beginning with ./ or /. The optional type value is a MIME type.

<entry term="cat">
  <ety>
    <sense pos="n">
      <definition value="A small domesticated mammal" />
    </sense>
  </ety>
  <media
    src="./images/cat.jpg"
    type="image/jpeg"
    description="A domestic cat"
  />
</entry>

---

Parts of speech

The pos attribute on <sense> accepts the following values. You can also pass any custom string, which will be treated as a custom part of speech.

Universal

Code	Label
art	article
abv	abbreviation
adf	adfix
adj	adjective
phr_adj	adjective phrase
adv	adverb
phr_adv	adverbial phrase
aff	affix
aux	auxiliary
aux_adj	auxiliary adjective
aux_v	auxiliary verb
chr	character
cf	circumfix
cls	classifier
conj	conjunction
conj_c	coordinating conjunction
contr	contraction
cop	copula
ctr	counter
det	determiner
expr	expression
inf	infix
intf	interfix
intj	interjection
vi	intransitive verb
name	name
n	noun
num	numeric
part	particle
phr	phrase
postp	postposition
pref	prefix
prep	preposition
phr_prep	prepositional phrase
pron	pronoun
propn	proper noun
prov	proverb
punc	punctuation
conj_s	subordinating conjunction
suff	suffix
sym	symbol
vt	transitive verb
un	unknown
v	verb

Japanese-specific

Code	Label
adj_pn	pre-noun adjectival (rentaishi)
adj_kari	‘kari’ adjective (archaic)
adj_ku	‘ku’ adjective (archaic)
adj_nari	archaic/formal form of na-adjective
adj_na	adjectival nouns or quasi-adjectives (keiyodoshi)
adj_shiku	‘shiku’ adjective (archaic)
adj_t	‘taru’ adjective
adj_ix	adjective (keiyoushi) - yoi/ii class
n_adv	adverbial noun (fukushitekimeishi)
adv_to	adverb taking the ‘to’ particle
adj_no	nouns which may take the genitive case particle ‘no’
n_pref	noun, used as a prefix
n_suf	noun, used as a suffix
nt	noun (temporal) (jisoumeishi)
adj_f	noun or verb acting prenominally
v5b	Godan verb with ‘bu’ ending
v5g	Godan verb with ‘gu’ ending
v5k	Godan verb with ‘ku’ ending
v5m	Godan verb with ‘mu’ ending
v5n	Godan verb with ‘nu’ ending
v5r	Godan verb with ‘ru’ ending
v5r_i	Godan verb with ‘ru’ ending (irregular verb)
v5aru	Godan verb - -aru special class
v5k_s	Godan verb - Iku/Yuku special class
v5s	Godan verb with ‘su’ ending
v5t	Godan verb with ‘tsu’ ending
v5u	Godan verb with ‘u’ ending
v5uru	Godan verb - Uru old class verb (old form of Eru)
v5u_s	Godan verb with ‘u’ ending (special class)
v1	Ichidan verb
v1s	Ichidan verb - kureru special class
vz	Ichidan verb - zuru verb (alternative form of -jiru verbs)
vk	Kuru verb - special class
v2b_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘bu’ ending (archaic)
v2b_k	Nidan verb (upper class) with ‘bu’ ending (archaic)
v2d_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘dzu’ ending (archaic)
v2d_k	Nidan verb (upper class) with ‘dzu’ ending (archaic)
v2g_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘gu’ ending (archaic)
v2g_k	Nidan verb (upper class) with ‘gu’ ending (archaic)
v2h_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘hu/fu’ ending (archaic)
v2h_k	Nidan verb (upper class) with ‘hu/fu’ ending (archaic)
v2k_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘ku’ ending (archaic)
v2k_k	Nidan verb (upper class) with ‘ku’ ending (archaic)
v2m_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘mu’ ending (archaic)
v2m_k	Nidan verb (upper class) with ‘mu’ ending (archaic)
v2n_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘nu’ ending (archaic)
v2r_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘ru’ ending (archaic)
v2r_k	Nidan verb (upper class) with ‘ru’ ending (archaic)
v2s_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘su’ ending (archaic)
v2t_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘tsu’ ending (archaic)
v2t_k	Nidan verb (upper class) with ‘tsu’ ending (archaic)
v2a_s	Nidan verb with ‘u’ ending (archaic)
v2w_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘u’ ending and ‘we’ conjugation (archaic)
v2y_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘yu’ ending (archaic)
v2y_k	Nidan verb (upper class) with ‘yu’ ending (archaic)
v2z_s	Nidan verb (lower class) with ‘zu’ ending (archaic)
vn	irregular nu verb
vr	irregular ru verb, plain form ends with -ri
vs_c	su verb - precursor to the modern suru
vs	noun or participle which takes the aux. verb suru
vs_i	suru verb - included
vs_s	suru verb - special class
v_unspec	verb unspecified
v4b	Yodan verb with ‘bu’ ending (archaic)
v4g	Yodan verb with ‘gu’ ending (archaic)
v4h	Yodan verb with ‘hu/fu’ ending (archaic)
v4k	Yodan verb with ‘ku’ ending (archaic)
v4m	Yodan verb with ‘mu’ ending (archaic)
v4n	Yodan verb with ‘nu’ ending (archaic)
v4r	Yodan verb with ‘ru’ ending (archaic)
v4s	Yodan verb with ‘su’ ending (archaic)
v4t	Yodan verb with ‘tsu’ ending (archaic)