Is there an offline command-line dictionary?
Is there any command line offline dictionary? I know that there are some like StarDict and Artha but how about one in the command line?
Also, I tried dict
but it is an online dictionary.
sdcv is the console version of Stardict.
1. Install the dictionary
Run the following command in the terminal:
sudo apt-get install sdcv
2. Download dictionary files
Download the dictionary files according to your requirements from the following sources.
- List of dictd-www.dict.org Dictionaries (archived):
- The Collaborative International Dictionary of English (GPL, 35MB, 174222 words) (download tarball from archive.org)
- https://web.archive.org/web/20140428004049/http://abloz.com/huzheng/stardict-dic/misc/
- Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing
- Jargon File - A comprehensive compendium of hacker slang illuminating many aspects of hackish tradition, folklore, and humor
- GNU Linux English-English Dictionary
3. Install downloaded dictionaries
Make the directory where sdcv
looks for the dictionary:
sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/stardict/dic/
The next command depends on whether the downloaded file is a .gz
file or a .bz2
file.
If it is a .bz2
file:
sudo tar -xvjf downloaded.tar.bz2 -C /usr/share/stardict/dic
If it is a .gz
file:
sudo tar -xvzf downlaoded.tar.gz -C /usr/share/stardict/dic
4. Done!
To search for a word use:
sdcv word
Easy offline dictd
installation
Rationale
The dict
command can easily be used with offline dictionaries. It suffices to install the dictd
daemon with its dependencies alongside a local, offline dictionary.
This turns out to be a much easier procedure than installing sdcv
as suggested elsewhere on this page.
Installation
Below is shown how to install dictd
along with the dict-gcide
comprehensive English dictionary. There are many more dictionairies available from the standard repositories.
$ sudo apt-get install dict dictd dict-gcide
Usage
$ dict word
3 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Word \Word\, n. [AS. word; akin to OFries. & OS. word, D. woord,
G. wort, Icel. or[eth], Sw. & Dan. ord, Goth. wa['u]rd,
OPruss. wirds, Lith. vardas a name, L. verbum a word; or
perhaps to Gr. "rh`twr an orator. Cf. {Verb}.]
[1913 Webster]
1. The spoken sign of a conception or an idea; an articulate
or vocal sound, or a combination of articulate and vocal
sounds, uttered by the human voice, and by custom
expressing an idea or ideas; a single component part of
human speech or language; a constituent part of a
sentence; a term; a vocable. "A glutton of words." --Piers
Plowman.
[1913 Webster]
You cram these words into mine ears, against
The stomach of my sense. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Amongst men who confound their ideas with words,
there must be endless disputes. --Locke.
[1913 Webster]
2. Hence, the written or printed character, or combination of
characters, expressing such a term; as, the words on a
page.
[1913 Webster]
3. pl. Talk; discourse; speech; language.
[1913 Webster]