Web word search: Definitions, translations, slang

By CNN Interactive Associate Producer Jenna Milly

(CNN) -- If you spend a lot of time surfing CNN Interactive, there's a chance someone might call you a quidnunc (kwid'nuk') n. a person interested in all the latest news or gossip.

So, if you are obsessed with such grandiloquent language or want to broaden your knowledge of technical terms, international communication and street slang, you'll want to check out this panoply of online dictionaries.

Mega word-finders: General dictionaries

The duly named OneLook Dictionary searches terms and words from over 200 lexicons and cross-references medical, scientific, religious, literary and general sources to find all possible definitions. Their speedy word search page allows users to browse spelling lists and pronunciation keys.

A Web of On-line Dictionaries also has a large database of sources with more than 400 reference materials and links to words in over 130 different languages. The cross-linking of such a wide variety of glossaries allows a one-word query to often yield several results, making accuracy and word origin easier to research.

Maybe you can read it, but can you say it? Carnegie Mellon University's Pronunciation Dictionary has a search engine that phonetically defines over 100,000 words, helping all those quidnuncs to speak more like newscasters.

International vocabulary builders: Translation dictionaries

The AltaVista: Translation page, nicknamed babelfish (a language you may speak before entering this site), allows the user to plug in whole sentences and paragraphs for translation. Using this site can aid in reading international news, communicating in chat rooms or discovering what AltaVista refers to as "cheap entertainment" with cross-Atlantic pen pals.

Foreign Languages for Travelers provides reference to over 60 languages with graphic lettering systems for non-Roman alphabets like Greek, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. Each section includes basic words, numbers, travel guides and general translations.

Surfing computer terms: Hard drive, floppy or zip

Definitions of basic computer terminology like JAVA, HTML, modem, and url can be found at PC Webopaedia home page. The "Recently Added" word section brings technology buffs up-to-date with all the latest cyberisms.

Less serious, but just as arcane, Hacker's Jargon posts pages of interesting computer programmer Web slang. Users can finally figure out what someone means when they say they are about "to geek out" (to temporarily enter techno-nerd mode while in a non-computer situation, e.g., at a party, "Excuse me while I geek out for a moment.")

Walking the Web streets: Slang dictionaries

Americans have an extraordinary amount of loyalty to their home cities, hence the unmistakable and sometimes cacophonous local dialects. American Slanguages provides slang dictionaries for 50 individual cites; the examples of brogue from New York, Boston and Dallas are frequently hilarious, even if you don't live there.

Other fun slang pages to visit are the British to American translator and the super funky Jive Talkin' page. Olde English Sayings defines British colloquialisms like "cut through the red tape" and "wet your whistle."

Related story:

• Web Translator tries to conquer the language barrier - July 19, 1996

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• OneLook Dictionary
• A Web of On-line Dictionaries
• Pronunciation Dictionary - Carnegie Mellon University
• Translation page - AltaVista
• Foreign Languages for Travelers
• PC Webopaedia home page
• Hacker's Jargon
• American Slanguages
• British to American translator
• Jive Talkin'
• Olde English Sayings

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

---

 

---

Sound off on our message boards & chat

© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.