WWWJDIC - New Entry/Amendment Submission - Supplementary Notes

Thank you for taking the trouble to read these notes.

Further information is available on an editorial policy page which is being developed.

Some words of advice when preparing a submission:

  1. Only use this form if you have a complete entry to submit, or if you wish to comment on an existing entry. If you want a word to be added, but you don't know the Japanese, you could: Also don't put in a new entry if you are unsure of the English meaning;
  2. Please make sure it is not in the dictionary already. (An amazing number of "new" submissions are for words that are already there.) The latest version is that running on the WWWJDIC servers. If it is there already, perhaps with a slightly different reading, put in an "amend" entry and mention the variation in the comments.
  3. When suggesting an amendment to an EDICT/JMdict entry be sure you actually have the correct dictionary. The "Translate Words in Text" function uses many other dictionary files as well.
  4. Never guess. If you are not sure of the kanji, or the reading, or the English meaning, don't bother sending it. Incoming entries are all checked, and sending in a dud entry is just wasting time.
  5. Guidelines for the Japanese part of the entry:
    1. You must use kanji and kana for the submission. Unless you have an extremely antiquated computer, there is no reason why you cannot enter Japanese into a WWW form.
    2. Make sure you have the correct kana. Many people make mistakes with vowel lengths, put in おお instead of おう, put ず instead of づ, etc. etc. These errors usually arise from incorrect transcriptions from romaji, which is ambiguous in many of these cases.
    3. Make sure you have the correct kanji. Near enough is rarely good enough.
    4. Use the standard abbreviations for the parts of speech. It is "n"; not "noun".
    5. Note that
      1. in the case of na-adjectives (形容動詞), the な is NOT included in the headword (some Japanese dictionaries include it.) Use a part-of-speech of "adj-na".
      2. as most adverbs are derived from either regular adjectives (く form) or na-adjectives (に), there is no need to have an entry unless the adverb is not apparent from the adjective.
      3. for verbs formed from adding する to a noun, do not include the する in the headword - instead use the part-of-speech of "vs". The exception to this is the group of single-kanji-plus-する verbs such as 愛する. For these include the complete verb and use the "vs-s" part-of-speech.
      4. for adverbs that are indicated by と, e.g. まざまざと, do not include the と, instead note the part-of-speech as "adv-to".
      5. for adjective that use たる (and と in the avderbial form), e.g. 依然たる, 依然と, omit the たる and と and use "adj-t" as the part-of-speech.
    6. If you are adding a katakana version of an existing word, please use the "amend" option.
  6. Guidelines for the English part of the entry:
    1. for a verb, make sure the English field(s) start with "to" as the infinitive form is used in JMdict/EDICT.
    2. Only use capital letters with proper nouns.
    3. Avoid articles (a, the): "dog" not "a dog".
    4. Make each translation a separate item, i.e. place them on different lines in the form. This makes reverse look up and exact match on the English possible. Some examples:
      • Abbreviations: "three letter acronym; TLA" not "three letter acronym (TLA)"
      • Conjunctions: "rice field; rice paddy" not "rice field or paddy"
    5. Put any context in brackets: "consulting (the oracle)" not "consulting the oracle".
    6. When indicating a field or domain for an entry, e.g., "comp" or "ling", put it in braces at the front of the first English field. For example:
      • {comp} floating-point
    7. for adjectives, the English entry should be just the adjective, not the adjective and copula:
      • "lucky" not "be lucky" or "is lucky"

It's OK to use this form to put in names as well, however most names will be moved into the ENAMDICT file.

Thank you for your attention.

Jim Breen