| Resource
|
Description
|
| An overview of Chinese dictionaries
|
Chinese has a very long history of dictionaries; if you're interested in the language, it will be useful to get a feel for what is actually out there, both print sources and otherwise.
|
| Old Chinese Reconstructions
|
Lots of words with information about the character and derivation from older forms of Chinese.
|
| ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese
|
A book available in PDF form by chapter.
|
| Chinese Etymology
|
Kind of an older site, but it has some useful information about word histories.
|
| Zhongwen Database
|
Includes a dictionary, texts, and resources to learn the language as well.
|
| Digital Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese
|
Guest access is free--the learning curve on this one is a bit steeper than some of the other dictionaries on this page, though.
|
| Old Chinese Basic Vocabulary Database
|
Has a small list of common or useful words.
|
| Radical/Strokes Look-up
|
The strokes needed to create a character, or "radicals," are an important measure for classifying the pieces of the written language.
|
| Chinese Text Project Character Lookup
|
By radicals here as well.
|
| ZDic
|
Will only be useful if you already know Chinese, although it does show you how to draw the characters.
|
| Chinese Characters
|
Also search by radical here; has information about ancient forms and variants, plus other stuff.
|
| Yellowbridge Dictionary
|
Shows information about the etymology as well.
|