a learner's dictionary for Taiwan Mandarin
Traditional Chinese, as it's used in Taiwan.
Search 4,974 commonly used characters and 30,117 common words, with zhuyin, pinyin, frequency, stroke order and TOCFL level — all grounded in Taiwanese sources.
4,974 characters30,117 words7 TOCFL levels
Start where you are
Working through a TOCFL level, learning the most common words first, or picking characters apart by radical — each is a way in.
Common words
The most common traditional-Chinese words, ranked by frequency in Taiwan's COCT corpus.
TOCFL levels
Taiwan's official graded vocabulary — 華語八千詞, Novice 1 through Level 5.
Top characters
Ranked by COCT corpus frequency. Learn the few that cover most text.
By radical
All 214 Kangxi radicals. Tap one to see every character that uses it.
Random character
A different entry every time. Good for a warmup, or to meet something outside what you were looking for.
The words and characters you'll meet first
Ranked from Taiwan's COCT corpus. Learn the first hundred characters and you're past roughly 40% of everyday written Chinese.
- #1我們ㄨㄛˇ ˙ㄇㄣwe; us; ourselves; our; the group including the speaker and at least one other person.
- #2自己ㄗˋ ㄐㄧˇoneself; one's own; (Beijing dialect) intimate; close (of relationships)
- #3沒有ㄇㄟˊ ㄧㄡˇto not have; to not be; there is not; haven't; hasn't; doesn't exist.
- #4他們ㄊㄚ ˙ㄇㄣthey; them — third-person plural pronoun referring to a group excluding the speaker and listener.
- #5可以ㄎㄜˇ ㄧˇcan; may; to be able to; to be possible; not bad; pretty good
- #6台灣ㄊㄞˊ ㄨㄢTaiwan; an island in East Asia; officially the Republic of China (ROC)
- #7表示ㄅㄧㄠˇ ㄕˋto express; to state; to show; to indicate; to signify; expression; manifestation
- #8因為ㄧㄣ ㄨㄟˋbecause; owing to; on account of; introduces a reason or cause
- #1open ›的˙ㄉㄜGrammatical particle indicating possession or modifying a noun; used to form nominal expressions; can also indicate affirmation or emphasis at the end of a sentence.
- #2open ›一ㄧThe number one; single; a; as soon as; entire; whole; all; a "one" radical in Chinese characters; also used for clarity when spelling out numbers.
- #3open ›是ㄕˋTo be; yes; correct; right; true; to affirm; to acknowledge; a surname; a thing; indeed.
- #4open ›不ㄅㄨˋFunction word; no; not; un-; negative prefix; used to form questions or emphasize a statement; sometimes used for rhythm.
- #5open ›有ㄧㄡˇTo have; to exist; to possess; to own; abundant; plentiful; old; intentional; a bound form indicating possession or accompaniment.
- #6open ›在ㄗㄞˋTo exist; to be located at or in a place; to be in the process of doing something; to depend on; to observe.
- #7open ›人ㄖㄣˊperson; people; mankind; human being; someone else; other people; each person; a certain type or identity of person; character or disposition; surname.
- #8open ›我ㄨㄛˇPronoun; first-person singular: I, me, my; also we, us, our in compounds and formal usage.
- #9open ›他ㄊㄚFunction word; third-person singular pronoun: he, him, his; also means other, another; separate; different.
- #10open ›了˙ㄌㄜParticle indicating completed action or change of state; to finish; to understand; completely; to become clear.
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Taiwan Mandarin pulls together established Chinese-language datasets — frequency counts from Taiwan's COCT corpus, the Ministry of Education's 常用國字 inventory, character data from Unihan, readings from the MOE dictionary via Moedict, and the official TOCFL 華語八千詞 grading. The English definitions are written by a language model, grounded in those same sources and documented here. Everything is free to use through the JSON API and the MCP server.