Pleco Chinese Dictionary
Free App
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About Pleco Chinese Dictionary
NOTE: if you experience download errors, see pleco.com/android for other download options.
Pleco is the ultimate Chinese learning companion - an integrated Chinese English dictionary / document reader / flashcard system with fullscreen handwriting input and live camera-based character lookups, from a company with 17 years' experience making mobile Chinese learning software.
Major features: ($ = paid add-on)
• Great dictionaries: the free app comes with two dictionaries - CC-CEDICT and our in-house PLC dictionary - which together cover 130,000 Chinese words and include 20,000 example sentences with Pinyin. We offer 8 more free dictionaries as optional downloads, including a 22,000-entry Cantonese-English dictionary, and 19 other great dictionaries are available as paid upgrades. ($)
• Handwriting input: lookup unknown characters by drawing them, with a best-in-class recognition engine. (basic version free, enhanced version $)
• Live Optical Character Recognizer (OCR): look up Chinese words in the dictionary simply by pointing your device's camera at them, or by scrolling around a still image. ($)
• Screen Reader/OCR: instantly tap-lookup Chinese words in other apps through a floating interface; works on Android 4.1 and later. (reader free, OCR $)
• Flashcard System: create a card from any dictionary entry with a single button tap, import premade word lists, use advanced techniques like SRS (spaced repetition), and study in a variety of modes including fill-in-the-blanks and tone drills. (simple version free, full-featured $)
• Audio Pronunciation: instantly hear male + female native-speaker audio for Chinese dictionary headwords; recordings available for over 34,000 words. (stitched-syllable free, multi-syllable $) Or listen to example sentences with text-to-speech (system TTS free, enhanced $).
• Powerful search: look up words by Chinese characters, Pinyin (spaces/tones optional), or a combination, with support for wildcards and full-text search.
• Cross-referencing: tap on any Chinese character / word in any dictionary entry to bring up its definition.
• Stroke Order Diagrams: animations showing you how to draw each Chinese character; 500 in free app, 28,000 in paid add-on.
• Voice Recognition: look up words by speaking them into your device's microphone.
• Document Reader: open a Chinese-language text or PDF file and look up unknown words in the dictionary simply by tapping on them. ($) You can also look up characters on web pages through "Share" and in other documents through the clipboard. (free)
• PRC- and Taiwan-friendly: supports traditional and simplified characters (in dictionary definitions, stroke order, search, OCR, and handwriting), and supports Zhuyin (with ruby support) as well as Pinyin for pronunciation display.
• Cantonese: display headwords + perform searches in Jyutping/Yale romanization. We also offer Cantonese dictionary and Cantonese audio add-ons. (some $)
• No ads: we won't even nag you about buying add-ons.
We also offer excellent customer support - send us an email and see for yourself - and an active user community at plecoforums.com.
We've been making Chinese dictionary apps since 2000, and our sales and customer base have been steadily growing for 17 years across four different platforms. We take good care of our longtime users: people who bought a dictionary on a Palm Pilot in 2001 can still use that dictionary on a new Android phone in 2017 without even paying an upgrade fee.
Paid add-ons can be moved to a new device like any other paid app; just open our free app on your new device and they should reactivate.
If you already own Pleco on another OS, see pleco.com/android for migration options.
This app uses Accessibility services. (for our Screen Reader feature, which helps users to get by in Chinese-speaking regions without knowing Chinese)
Twitter/Facebook: plecosoft
Pleco is the ultimate Chinese learning companion - an integrated Chinese English dictionary / document reader / flashcard system with fullscreen handwriting input and live camera-based character lookups, from a company with 17 years' experience making mobile Chinese learning software.
Major features: ($ = paid add-on)
• Great dictionaries: the free app comes with two dictionaries - CC-CEDICT and our in-house PLC dictionary - which together cover 130,000 Chinese words and include 20,000 example sentences with Pinyin. We offer 8 more free dictionaries as optional downloads, including a 22,000-entry Cantonese-English dictionary, and 19 other great dictionaries are available as paid upgrades. ($)
• Handwriting input: lookup unknown characters by drawing them, with a best-in-class recognition engine. (basic version free, enhanced version $)
• Live Optical Character Recognizer (OCR): look up Chinese words in the dictionary simply by pointing your device's camera at them, or by scrolling around a still image. ($)
• Screen Reader/OCR: instantly tap-lookup Chinese words in other apps through a floating interface; works on Android 4.1 and later. (reader free, OCR $)
• Flashcard System: create a card from any dictionary entry with a single button tap, import premade word lists, use advanced techniques like SRS (spaced repetition), and study in a variety of modes including fill-in-the-blanks and tone drills. (simple version free, full-featured $)
• Audio Pronunciation: instantly hear male + female native-speaker audio for Chinese dictionary headwords; recordings available for over 34,000 words. (stitched-syllable free, multi-syllable $) Or listen to example sentences with text-to-speech (system TTS free, enhanced $).
• Powerful search: look up words by Chinese characters, Pinyin (spaces/tones optional), or a combination, with support for wildcards and full-text search.
• Cross-referencing: tap on any Chinese character / word in any dictionary entry to bring up its definition.
• Stroke Order Diagrams: animations showing you how to draw each Chinese character; 500 in free app, 28,000 in paid add-on.
• Voice Recognition: look up words by speaking them into your device's microphone.
• Document Reader: open a Chinese-language text or PDF file and look up unknown words in the dictionary simply by tapping on them. ($) You can also look up characters on web pages through "Share" and in other documents through the clipboard. (free)
• PRC- and Taiwan-friendly: supports traditional and simplified characters (in dictionary definitions, stroke order, search, OCR, and handwriting), and supports Zhuyin (with ruby support) as well as Pinyin for pronunciation display.
• Cantonese: display headwords + perform searches in Jyutping/Yale romanization. We also offer Cantonese dictionary and Cantonese audio add-ons. (some $)
• No ads: we won't even nag you about buying add-ons.
We also offer excellent customer support - send us an email and see for yourself - and an active user community at plecoforums.com.
We've been making Chinese dictionary apps since 2000, and our sales and customer base have been steadily growing for 17 years across four different platforms. We take good care of our longtime users: people who bought a dictionary on a Palm Pilot in 2001 can still use that dictionary on a new Android phone in 2017 without even paying an upgrade fee.
Paid add-ons can be moved to a new device like any other paid app; just open our free app on your new device and they should reactivate.
If you already own Pleco on another OS, see pleco.com/android for migration options.
This app uses Accessibility services. (for our Screen Reader feature, which helps users to get by in Chinese-speaking regions without knowing Chinese)
Twitter/Facebook: plecosoft
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Android app
App History & Updates
What's Changed
3.2.54/5: Fix for a couple of bugs in the document reader.
Just launched: our first paid e-book offerings. "Chinese History: A New Manual" 5/e by Endymion Wilkinson (an essential reference for anything to do with Chinese history), plus two collections of graded readings, the "Graded Chinese Reader" series by Sinolingua plus "Selections from The Chairman's Bao" (graded-reading news articles).
3.2.54/5: Fix for a couple of bugs in the document reader.
Just launched: our first paid e-book offerings. "Chinese History: A New Manual" 5/e by Endymion Wilkinson (an essential reference for anything to do with Chinese history), plus two collections of graded readings, the "Graded Chinese Reader" series by Sinolingua plus "Selections from The Chairman's Bao" (graded-reading news articles).
Version update Pleco Chinese Dictionary was updated to version 3.2.55
More downloads Pleco Chinese Dictionary reached 1 000 000 - 5 000 000 downloads
More downloads Pleco Chinese Dictionary reached 500 000 - 1 000 000 downloads
Version update Pleco Chinese Dictionary was updated to version 2.4.18
What are users saying about Pleco Chinese Dictionary
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by D####:
by D####:
Great basic anki support but, it'd be nice if there is options to include more field into anki card creation . At the moment it only allow 'hanzi simplified vocab', 'hanzi traditional voxab', and 'meaning'. Anyway to include 'source sentence' field when creating anki card during eReader reading as well? Since having context of the book I am reading helps retain the vocab more. I don't even mind if it's a paid feature
L
by L####:
by L####:
It does what I want it to do when I need it. Sometimes it gives too many options and I am left wondering which word is the one most commonly used.
D
by D####:
by D####:
Does not have handwriting for Iphone users. It turns out that the app is not up-to-date for iphone. Please fix.
D
by D####:
by D####:
Super useful. I'm relying on it every day for my study and daily life.
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by D####:
by D####:
This is the best translator apps. It helps me with Chinese language. Keep on with good work developer.
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by D####:
by D####:
Good to use if you are a Chinese with understanding of Chinese words.
C
by C####:
by C####:
Really useful app for people learning Mandarin. Thank you so much, I really appreciate this!
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by D####:
by D####:
The best Chinese dictionary app. Very handy! And shows 繁體字 also. <3
D
by D####:
by D####:
Love this app, really useful. Would be great if entries also had suggested synonyms ????
D
by D####:
by D####:
升級後 為什麼 clip reader 不能再用？
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by D####:
by D####:
Only reason I have smartphone.
M
by M####:
by M####:
The best ever Chinese dictionary.If you are learning Chinese,you need it.
F
by F####:
by F####:
Really helps me and my kids to learn chinese
B
by B####:
by B####:
Great app
I
by I####:
by I####:
Great application
D
by D####:
by D####:
Its good
D
by D####:
by D####:
Great App. Simple and easy to use interface. Used by a lot of foreigners here in china. ????
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by D####:
No competition.
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by D####:
by D####:
very useful for Chinese learner
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by D####:
by D####:
Since a few weeks the Screen Reader OCR does not work for WeChat. I am using Android 7 on a Samsung S7. I will rate it 5 stars after a fix :)
D
by D####:
by D####:
Fantastic app! Helped a lot in China when I would forget a word here and there, I was able to quickly open the dictionary and search.
S
by S####:
by S####:
Absolutely wonderful app! I have been carrying around big dictionaries for years! This is such a great new way to access oceans of information! Thanks again and JOB WELL DONE!!!
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by D####:
by D####:
There's a small problem with keyboard in the search page. The keyboard appears but then immediately hides. You need to clik into the search bar twice.
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by D####:
by D####:
The Screen Reader feature of this app is really amazing. It makes looking up words from a chat or in a document incredibly easy. You never have to leave the app you are using!
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by D####:
by D####:
The best Chinese dictionary I've tried. 我觉得这本是最好中文词典。
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by D####:
by D####:
I use Pleco every day and love it.
K
by K####:
by K####:
Love the app. Easy to use. Helpful. But should add more stroke example and easier example of sentences
T
by T####:
by T####:
Tried many others for Cantonese..for me Pleco is by far the best
L
by L####:
by L####:
It is good to learn chines, it helps me more
C
by C####:
by C####:
Holy grail for my Chinese Studies BA at university
D
by D####:
by D####:
Good,its simple and easy to use
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by D####:
by D####:
good
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by D####:
by D####:
highly customizable, informative, and accurate. for beginniners, the user interface may seem a little crowded and intimidating. I love that the app doesn't shove "unlock premium" ads into the app itself and isn't intrusive. I'd appreciate a help forum built into the app because navigating the jam-packed interface proved to be a challenge for the first day or so. The settings menu had many options for customization but trying to discover what everything in the menus meant was kind of confusing. a better UI is all that this app needs to be more user-friendly. I was surprised by the accuracy that this app had because many other translation apps had many grammar mistakes and incorrect translations. overall, a very reliable and informative app that needs just a little bit of tweaking in the interface.
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by D####:
by D####:
Pleco is alone in it's class of products for excellence and they offer many add-on features, dictionaries, and it has a good flash card system. I highly recommend it. That being said, often I find some compound words/phrases missing, but Google Translate can fill in those gaps easily. It would be nice to be able to recommend new words and phrases back to them based on experiences with native speakers (I live in China).
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by D####:
by D####:
Best app ever;other apps have to pay but this is free and even has a writing analization to analize your han zi
Q
by Q####:
by Q####:
This is the best Chinese dictionary I have ever used on Android platform! Thank you so much Admin team for the making of this dictionary!
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by D####:
by D####:
Been using this for the past couple years and I have to say that it has been one if the most beneficial tools when learning chinese
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by C####:
by C####:
gak ada tanda microphone
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by D####:
by D####:
very good。It's is helping me in my studies.
by K####:
The OCR used to be able to read the Chinese texts on wechat which was fantastic! But now there's no floating interfaces for the texts. It only has floating interfaces of the profile pictures and title... That doesn't really help me if I need to translate some words within the text. Could you please fix this so it translates the Chinese words with floating interface for the texts. Thank you.