Best Esperanto dictionaries (2026): online, app, print

The best Esperanto dictionary depends on the job. For a quick Esperanto–English lookup with pronunciation and word structure, use our dictionary or Tuja Vortaro, which is built on ESPDIC. For definitions written in Esperanto, use PIV at vortaro.net or ReVo.

For translations into smaller languages, ReVo covers 174. Offline on a phone, install PReVo (Android) or Poŝa Reta Vortaro (iOS). On paper, John Wells's English–Esperanto–English dictionary is the standard choice. Every online dictionary below is free.

#Comparison at a glance

Each project counts entries differently, so compare sizes only roughly. Figures come from each project's own pages and are dated 7 October 2026 unless a year is given. Our own figures are from 1 November 2026.

#The dictionaries one by one

#Esperantopedia

Our dictionary gives each word a page with its meaning, pronunciation (IPA, syllables, stress), word structure, family of related words and example sentences. On 1 November 2026 it had word pages with meanings in 17 languages (Esperanto definitions included), for example French (29,583), English (27,357) and German (23,103); the full table is on the dictionary page. A reverse English-to-Esperanto dictionary adds 23,295 pages.

The data comes from ReVo (GPL-2.0), Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), ESPDIC (CC BY 3.0), Tatoeba sentences (CC BY 2.0 FR) and recordings from Lingua Libre and Wikimedia Commons. Limits: it is new (2026), has no offline app, and covers fewer words than ESPDIC (27,357 English pages against 63,895 entries).

#ReVo (Reta Vortaro)

ReVo is a free online dictionary started in 1997 by Wolfram Diestel, with content and tools under the GPL. Each article defines a root and its derived words in Esperanto and adds translations. The largest sets are Chinese (68,589), German (54,921), Belarusian (50,635) and Polish (49,525); English has 39,267.

It is the best place for a careful definition or a translation into a rarer language. Coverage is uneven: ReVo's own meters show translations for 88.5% of senses in German, 77.2% in English, 47.5% in Spanish and 21.2% in Italian. Esperanto UK calls the interface dated and unfriendly to mobile users.

#PIV (Plena Ilustrita Vortaro)

PIV is the largest monolingual Esperanto dictionary, published by Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda (SAT) since 1970. The 2002 and 2005 editions had 16,780 headwords and 46,890 lexical units. The newest edition, PIV 2020, is free to consult at vortaro.net, which also has a simple version that works without JavaScript.

Its definitions are all in Esperanto, so PIV suits intermediate learners better than beginners. It is under SAT's copyright, and no app or offline version turned up.

#Wells (English–Esperanto–English Dictionary)

John C. Wells, a phonetician and former president of the Esperanto Academy, compiled this two-way dictionary. The 2010 edition has 508 pages and over 30,000 entries. It is the easiest way to find the Esperanto for an English word, but it is paper only and cannot include words that appeared after 2010.

#ESPDIC and Tuja Vortaro

ESPDIC is Paul Denisowski's Esperanto–English word list: 63,895 entries in one text file dated 6 October 2024, free under CC BY 3.0. He first released it in May 2011 and adds only words found in other, mostly printed, sources. Entries are short English glosses, without examples or audio.

Tuja Vortaro is a free pocket dictionary, licensed GPLv2, built from ESPDIC and ReVo data. Its code strips common endings and converts the x-system, so it is quick for casual lookups.

#lernu.net

lernu.net describes its dictionary as multilingual, two-way and integrated into the site's Esperanto texts. Esperanto UK rates it as probably the best mix of reliable translations, number of words and ease of use. The size and licence are not published, and on 7 October 2026 visitors who were not logged in were redirected to the log-in page, so you may need a free account.

#Wiktionary and Vikivortaro

English Wiktionary has 20,383 Esperanto lemma pages, and 16,142 Esperanto terms carry audio pronunciation. Entries add etymology and often example sentences, under CC BY-SA. Vikivortaro (eo.wiktionary.org) has 221,706 articles, but it covers words from all languages, not only Esperanto. Anyone can edit both, so quality varies.

#Glosbe

Glosbe is a community-based site with Esperanto–English and many other language pairs. It states that its data is partly CC BY-SA, partly FDL and partly under custom licences, and that translations draw on parallel corpora. Because those examples are collected automatically, they can contain mistakes: check unfamiliar words in a curated dictionary such as ReVo.

#How to choose

• Quick Esperanto to English: Esperantopedia, Tuja Vortaro or ESPDIC.
• English to Esperanto: Wells, or our reverse pages.
• Definitions in Esperanto: PIV or ReVo.
• Audio: English Wiktionary or Esperantopedia.
• Offline: PReVo, Poŝa Reta Vortaro or the ESPDIC file.

Learn the 100 most common words before looking up many others, and add PIV once you can read simple Esperanto.

#How to look up an Esperanto word

Dictionaries list the base form: nouns end in -o, adjectives in -a, adverbs in -e and verbs in -i. Remove the plural -j, the object -n and the tense endings before you search. The verb endings are -as, -is, -os, -us and -u.

Long words are often built from roots, prefixes and suffixes. Split them and look up the root; word building explains the parts. ReVo gathers derived words in one article under the root, so hund leads to hundo and its family.

For letters with accents, type the x-system: cx for ĉ, gx for ĝ, hx for ĥ, jx for ĵ, sx for ŝ and ux for ŭ. Our search box and Tuja Vortaro convert it as you type. See the alphabet page.

Our dictionary search matches the start of a word and also recognises common endings: type hundojn and it offers hundo, marked as plural and object.

#Print dictionaries

• Wells, English–Esperanto–English Dictionary (2010, 508 pages, Mondial): £16 as a paperback at the Esperanto Association of Britain shop; a hardback also exists.
• PIV 2020: 1,268 pages, printed in 500 copies by KAVA-PECH for SAT, according to Vikipedio. A 2022 Esperanto-France catalogue listed it at €60.
• Esperanto-English Dictionary by Paul Denisowski (Evertype, 2012): over 52,000 headwords, more a glossary than a full dictionary. The paperback was listed at €28.95; the free online ESPDIC is larger and newer.
• Picture dictionaries: for vocabulary by theme, Esperanto UK recommends Osborne's Mil Unuaj Vortoj en Esperanto and calls the Duden Bildvortaro the most detailed picture dictionary.

Most learners need only a free online dictionary. Buy a book to browse or to study away from a screen. More study tools are in free resources to learn Esperanto.

#Common questions

#Is there a free Esperanto dictionary?

Yes. ReVo, PIV at vortaro.net, ESPDIC, Tuja Vortaro, Wiktionary, Glosbe and Esperantopedia are free online. Wells is a paid book.

#What is the biggest Esperanto dictionary?

It depends on how you count. PIV is the largest monolingual dictionary, with 16,780 headwords and 46,890 lexical units in its 2002–2005 editions. ESPDIC has the longest Esperanto–English list here, at 63,895 entries, and ReVo has the most translations, 750,794 in 174 languages.

#Is there an offline Esperanto dictionary app?

Yes. PReVo for Android and Poŝa Reta Vortaro for iOS (263 MB) contain ReVo and work without internet. Praktika Vortaro (Android) is another ReVo-based app. The iOS app Vortaro, based on Tuja Vortaro, has over 60,000 Esperanto–English entries offline.

#How many words are in Esperanto?

There is no official count. Zamenhof's first book (1887) had about 900 roots, and his 1894 Universala vortaro added 1,740 more. Today ReVo has 13,094 articles and PIV about 16,780 headwords, and speakers build many more words from roots and affixes.

#Which Esperanto dictionary is best for beginners?

Use an Esperanto–English dictionary that shows pronunciation and word structure, such as Esperantopedia. Move to PIV or ReVo when you want definitions in Esperanto.

#Sources

• ReVo statistics page (13,094 articles; 174 languages; translations per language)
• Wikipedia: Reta Vortaro and Vikipedio: Reta Vortaro (1997, GPL, mobile apps)
• Wikipedia: Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto and Vikipedio: Plena Ilustrita Vortaro (headwords, 2020 print run)
• PIV 2020 at vortaro.net
• Esperanto-France catalogue 2022 (PIV 2020 price)
• Esperanto UK: dictionaries and Wells dictionary, paperback
• ESPDIC readme, Usona Esperantisto 2013: ESPDIC and Evertype: Esperanto-English Dictionary
• Tuja Vortaro and its source code
• PReVo, Praktika Vortaro, Poŝa Reta Vortaro and Vortaro (iOS)
• lernu.net
• English Wiktionary: Esperanto lemmas, terms with audio and Vikivortaro statistics
• Glosbe: Esperanto–English and Glosbe: about
• Wikipedia: Esperanto vocabulary
• Tatoeba and Lingua Libre (sentences and recordings used in our dictionary)