Dictionary

The dictionary is your instant word lookup tool. It works everywhere — in subtitles, in search, and on its own dedicated page.

Looking Up Words

You can look up a word in three ways:

• Tap any word in the subtitles or transcript while watching a video. A popup opens with the definition, pronunciation, and a bookmark button. See Popup Dictionary for details.
• Use the search bar at the top of the Dictionary page. Type a word in your target language and press Enter.
• Click a saved word in your vocabulary list to jump straight to its full entry.

The search bar is always there — it never moves. Whether you're browsing results or reading a full entry, the search bar stays at the top so you can look up another word instantly.

What You Get

Every entry gives you the essentials up front:

• Definitions in your native language, ordered by relevance
• Pronunciation — tap the speaker icon to hear it aloud, plus a phonetic guide (Pinyin, Romaji, or IPA)
• Part of speech — noun, verb, adjective, and so on
• Proficiency level — where the word falls on scales like CEFR (A1–C2), HSK (1–6), or JLPT (N5–N1)

Depending on the language and the word, you might also see:

• Alternate scripts — for Chinese, see the word in both simplified and traditional. For Vietnamese, see the Chữ Hán form. For Korean, see the Hanja. You control which scripts appear in Settings.
• Classifiers — for Chinese, see which measure words go with the noun (like 个, 本, 张). For French or German, see the grammatical gender.
• Textbook coverage — if the word appears in a textbook like the HSK Standard Course, you'll see exactly which book, lesson, and dialog it's from.

Tabs

The entry page has tabs next to the definitions panel:

• Examples from Videos — see real subtitle lines from YouTube videos that contain this word. Great for hearing how it's actually used. Learn more in Subtitle Search.
• Conjugations — full conjugation or declension tables for verbs and adjectives. Available for Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch.
• AI Explanation — a plain-English breakdown of the word's meaning, usage, and nuances. Generated on the fly by DeepSeek.

Where Dictionary Entries Come From

Language Player uses curated, versioned dictionaries built from open data:

If a word isn't in any dictionary — like a rare dialect word or a new slang term — the app asks an AI model to generate a definition on the spot. These AI-generated entries are marked so you know they're not from a curated source.

Saving Words

Click the bookmark icon on any dictionary entry to save the word to your personal vocabulary list. Your saved words appear in the sidebar while you're browsing the dictionary, so you can quickly jump between them.

Saved words sync across devices if you're logged in. You can browse and manage them on the Saved Words page. Use the Review feature to practice your saved words with spaced repetition — the app schedules reviews so you see each word just before you'd forget it.

Tips

• Click the speaker icon next to any word to hear its pronunciation. This works in the popup, the search results, and the full entry page.
• Use the sidebar toggle (the panel icon in the search bar) to show or hide your saved words list while browsing entries.
• Search Google Images from any entry page — the link is at the bottom of the definitions panel. Useful for concrete nouns when a picture is worth a thousand words.
• If a word's definition seems off, check the AI Explanation tab. The AI sometimes catches nuances that dictionary definitions miss.
• Switch scripts in Settings if you prefer traditional Chinese characters or want to see Hanja alongside Korean Hangul.