A Dictionary of the Chinese Language

A Dictionary of the Chinese Language in Three Parts
A Dictionary of the Chinese Language, Part I, Vol. I, title page[1]
AuthorRobert Morrison
LanguageChinese, English
PublisherPeter Perring Thoms
Publication date
1815-1823
Publication placeMacau, Qing Dynasty
Media typePrint
Pages4,595
OCLC500112156

A Dictionary of the Chinese Language, in Three Parts or Morrison's Chinese dictionary (1815-1823), compiled by the Anglo-Scottish missionary Robert Morrison was the first Chinese-English, English-Chinese dictionary. Part I is Chinese-English arranged by the 214 Kangxi radicals,[2] Part II is Chinese-English arranged alphabetically,[3] and Part III is English-Chinese also arranged alphabetically.[4] This groundbreaking reference work is enormous, comprising 4,595 pages in 6 quarto volumes and including 47,035 head characters taken from the 1716 Kangxi Dictionary. However, Morrison's encyclopedic dictionary had flaws, notably failing to distinguish aspirated consonants: the pronunciation taou is given for both aspirated táo (桃, "peach") and unaspirated dào (道, "way; the Tao").

  1. ^ Morrison 1815.
  2. ^ Morrison 1815; Morrison 1822; Morrison 1823.
  3. ^ Morrison 1819; Morrison 1820.
  4. ^ Morrison 1822b.