is a very large database of English-Japanese translations. Developed by the editors of the Electronic Dictionary Project and aimed at translators, Eijirō is currently one of the most popular dictionaries on the Internet. Although the contents are technically the same, EDP refers to the accompanying Japanese-English database as .

History

The Eijirō project was started by a translator (who wishes to remain anonymous) as a way to keep track of his English vocabulary. Noting the favorable reception it received when he shared it with his friends, he started the Electronic Dictionary Project, a wiki-like structure that allowed for and even encouraged contributions to the dictionary. This resulted in a comprehensive database that grew to include over 1.66 million entries in the fourth edition.

Characteristics

Although commonly termed a dictionary

Dictionary

A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...

, Eijirō differs from other Japanese dictionaries such as the Kōjien

Kojien

The is a single-volume Japanese dictionary first published by Iwanami Shoten in 1955. Many native speakers of Japanese regard the Kōjien as the most authoritative dictionary, and newspaper editorials frequently cite its definitions...

 by giving examples the same weight as definitions. While this may result in less accurate definitions on a one-to-one basis, many translators use Eijirō specifically for this purpose, as this structure allows for a more nuanced understanding of the word and accounts for its appearance in commonly-used sayings. In addition, the extremely high entry count (approximately 1.66 million entries in the fourth edition, as compared to 560,000 in the third edition of Webster's Dictionary

Webster's Dictionary

Webster's Dictionary refers to the line of dictionaries first developed by Noah Webster in the early 19th century, and also to numerous unrelated dictionaries that added Webster's name just to share his prestige. The term is a genericized trademark in the U.S.A...

) virtually guarantees the inclusion of new and obscure words.

Access

Eijirō can be purchased online as either a CD-R

CD-R

A CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....

or downloadable dictionary file for a comparatively low price. Eijirō was first released in 2002, and it has since gone through three revisions.

In addition, an online version of Eijirō is provided free of charge through the SpaceALC Japanese portal.

External Links and References

• Eijirō Homepage
  • What is Eijirō?
• SpaceALC – a portal site which includes an online dictionary based on Eijirō.
  • Pocket Eijirō
• The Story Behind Eijiro – A first-hand blog entry outlining the history of Eijirō