dicti

Dicti is a data interchange format and accompanying toolkit intended for dictionaries and lexical databases. It provides a compact, human- and machine-readable schema capable of representing lemmas, senses, examples, translations, pronunciations, etymologies, and metadata. The design emphasizes multi-language entries, offline usability, and streaming parsing, making it suitable for both publishing lexicographic content and powering language-learning applications.

Etymology and naming: The term dicti is derived from Latin dictio, meaning “speaking” or “definition,” chosen to reflect its dictionary-oriented purpose. In practice, dicti is used as an open, cross-project standard to facilitate interoperability among lexicographic resources.

History and development: Dicti emerged in the early 2010s from open-source language-resource communities seeking a lightweight alternative to heavier lexicographic formats. The initial public specification appeared in the early 2010s, with subsequent revisions adding schema extensions, localization support, and validation rules. It is maintained by a volunteer community and has been adopted by several open-source dictionary projects and language-tools ecosystems.

Format and features: The core model includes Entry, Sense, Example, Translation, Pronunciation, Etymology, and Metadata. Data can be represented in YAML- or JSON-like manifests or streams, with optional schema-based validation. Key features include versioning, extensible field sets, locale tagging, and pluggable backends for storage and search. Libraries exist for Python, JavaScript, and Rust, emphasizing forward- and backward-compatibility and minimal runtime dependencies.

Usage and reception: Dicti is used by hobbyist and professional lexicographic projects to publish bilingual and monolingual dictionaries, as well as offline dictionaries for mobile devices. It has been praised for simplicity and interoperability, while criticism highlights a lack of formal governance in some ecosystems and varying levels of implementation maturity.

See also: Lexical database, JSON, YAML, TEI Lexical Material, Open Dictionary Data Model.