Posted 2017/5/23
Zidian” (character dictionary) is an exclusive concept of China. It is a reference book that provides form, pronunciation, meanings, usage and sample sentences of a character (or a word). Zidian contains mostly characters and sometimes words; Cidian (word dictionary) mainly collects words, but also includes characters. The earliest zidian of China Erya appeared before the Han Dynasty. The Shuowen Jiezi compiled by Xu Shen of the Han Dynasty is the first Chinese character dictionary that explains pronunciation, form and meanings of characters, and the first to range Chinese characters by radicals. The Kangxi Dictionary was compiled in the Qing Dynasty. It is the first character dictionary under the name “Zidian”. In modern times, many dictionaries appeared, such as Zhonghua Da Zidian, Xinhua Zidian, Hanyu Da Zidian and Cihai.
