Shenglei

The Shenglei was the first Chinese rime dictionary, compiled c. 230 CE by Li Deng (李登), a lexicographer from the state of Cao Wei (220–266). Earlier dictionaries were organized either by semantic fields (e.g. the c. 3rd-century BCE Erya) or by character radicals (e.g., the Shuowen Jiezi published in 121 CE). The last copies of the Shenglei were lost around the 13th century, and it is known only from earlier descriptions and quotations, which say it was in ten volumes and listed 11520 Chinese characters, with entries categorized by linguistic tone in terms of the 'five tones' (五聲; wǔshēng) of the pentatonic scale from Chinese musicology and wuxing ('five phases') theory.