See wash one's hands on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "The figurative sense comes from the account in Matthew 27:24 of the Bible in which Pontius Pilate, unwilling to condemn Jesus who has committed no crime but whose crucifixion the crowd has called for, symbolically washes his hands in public and says (according to the King James Version; spelling modernized): “I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.”",
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"form": "washes one's hands",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "washing one's hands",
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"participle",
"present"
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{
"form": "washed one's hands",
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"past"
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{
"form": "washed one's hands",
"tags": [
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"expansion": "wash one's hands (third-person singular simple present washes one's hands, present participle washing one's hands, simple past and past participle washed one's hands)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
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"examples": [
{
"text": "Be sure to wash your hands before preparing food.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2020, traditional (lyrics and music), “If You're Healthy and You Know It”:",
"text": "If you're healthy and you know it, wash your hands!\nIf you're healthy and you know it, wash your hands!",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see wash, one's, hands."
],
"id": "en-wash_one's_hands-en-verb-bI8urEi9",
"links": [
[
"wash",
"wash#English"
],
[
"one's",
"one's#English"
],
[
"hands",
"hands#English"
]
],
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "82 12 5",
"word": "get one's hands dirty"
}
]
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"glosses": [
"To go to the toilet."
],
"id": "en-wash_one's_hands-en-verb--gbdGcAB",
"links": [
[
"go to the toilet",
"go to the toilet"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(euphemistic) To go to the toilet."
],
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"euphemistic"
]
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1693, [William] Congreve, The Old Batchelour, a Comedy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Peter Buck, […], →OCLC, Act II, page 11:",
"text": "Sharp[er]. […] Mony is but Dirt, Sir Joſeph—Mere Dirt. / Sir Jo[seph Wittoll]. But I profeſs, it is a Dirt I have vvaſhed my Hands of at preſent; I have laid it all out upon my Back.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1749, Henry Fielding, “In which the Surgeon Makes His Second Appearance”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VIII, page 165:",
"text": "'Then I vvaſh my Hands of you,' cries the Doctor, 'and I deſire you to pay me for the Trouble I have had already.[…].'",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Quite at Home”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 53:",
"text": "He had entirely washed his hands of the difficulty, and it had become ours.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1884, H[enry] Rider Haggard, chapter VII, in Dawn […], volume III, London: Hurst and Blackett, […], →OCLC, page 70:",
"text": "It was no affair of his; he had long ago washed his hands of the whole matter, and left things to take their chance.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1916 September, Rex Beach, “El Demonio’s Child”, in Rainbow’s End […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 245:",
"text": "Although Norine had pretended to wash her hands of all responsibility for Branch's little charge, she was by no means so inhuman as she appeared.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1936 June 8, “National Affairs: Ditch Up, Dam Down”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2012-01-01:",
"text": "[A]fter Congress had refused to appropriate money to continue them, President [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt washed his hands of the two ventures.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2003 March 13, “Immigration: Vermont refugee aid group says policy thins resources”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-03-11:",
"text": "Janet Dench, the executive director of the Canadian Council for refugees, said that both countries are \"washing their hands\" of the problem.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2024 March 20, Philip Haigh, “Euston is the key to unlocking HS2's true potential”, in RAIL, number 1005, page 49:",
"text": "By contrast, today's government ministers appear to have washed their hands of Euston, perhaps thinking that its development can be entirely left to the private sector. I think that's a mistake.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for; to refuse to have any further involvement with."
],
"id": "en-wash_one's_hands-en-verb-bOkzyrzy",
"info_templates": [
{
"args": {
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"2": ":of<something>"
},
"expansion": "[with of ‘something’]",
"extra_data": {
"tags": [
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]
},
"name": "+obj"
}
],
"links": [
[
"absolve",
"absolve"
],
[
"responsibility",
"responsibility"
],
[
"future",
"future#Adjective"
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[
"blame",
"blame#Noun"
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[
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[
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],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figuratively) To absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for; to refuse to have any further involvement with. [with of ‘something’]"
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "disclaim"
},
{
"word": "disown"
},
{
"word": "repudiate"
}
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"roman": "ḡasala yadayhi mina l-ʔamri",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "غَسَلَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "rentar-se'n les mans"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "rentar-se'n les mans com Pilat"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jīnpénxǐshǒu",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "金盆洗手"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "pestä kätensä"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "se laver les mains de"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "die Hände in Unschuld waschen"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "nípto tas cheíras mou",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "νίπτω τας χείρας μου"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "mossa kezeit"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "láta sigla sinn sjó"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "þvo hendur sínar af"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "cuci tangan"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "lavarsene le mani"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "te o hiku",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "手を引く"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "mk",
"lang": "Macedonian",
"roman": "míe ráce od",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "ми́е ра́це од"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "cuci tangan"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "umywać ręce"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "lavar as mãos"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "redimir-se de"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "umytʹ ruki",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "умыть руки"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "umyvatʹ ruki",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "умывать руки"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "lavarse las manos"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "desentenderse"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "tl",
"lang": "Tagalog",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "maghugas-kamay"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 5 94",
"code": "te",
"lang": "Telugu",
"roman": "cētulu kaḍugukonu",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "చేతులు కడుగుకొను"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌwɒʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌwɔʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
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{
"ipa": "/ˌwɒʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z‿əv/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌwɔʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z‿əv/",
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]
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],
"wikipedia": [
"Jesus",
"Pontius Pilate"
],
"word": "wash one's hands"
}
{
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"English terms derived from the Bible",
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"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Portuguese translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Tagalog translations",
"Terms with Telugu translations"
],
"etymology_text": "The figurative sense comes from the account in Matthew 27:24 of the Bible in which Pontius Pilate, unwilling to condemn Jesus who has committed no crime but whose crucifixion the crowd has called for, symbolically washes his hands in public and says (according to the King James Version; spelling modernized): “I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.”",
"forms": [
{
"form": "washes one's hands",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "washing one's hands",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "washed one's hands",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "washed one's hands",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "*",
"head": "wash one's hands"
},
"expansion": "wash one's hands (third-person singular simple present washes one's hands, present participle washing one's hands, simple past and past participle washed one's hands)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "get one's hands dirty"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Be sure to wash your hands before preparing food.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2020, traditional (lyrics and music), “If You're Healthy and You Know It”:",
"text": "If you're healthy and you know it, wash your hands!\nIf you're healthy and you know it, wash your hands!",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see wash, one's, hands."
],
"links": [
[
"wash",
"wash#English"
],
[
"one's",
"one's#English"
],
[
"hands",
"hands#English"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English euphemisms"
],
"glosses": [
"To go to the toilet."
],
"links": [
[
"go to the toilet",
"go to the toilet"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(euphemistic) To go to the toilet."
],
"tags": [
"euphemistic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1693, [William] Congreve, The Old Batchelour, a Comedy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Peter Buck, […], →OCLC, Act II, page 11:",
"text": "Sharp[er]. […] Mony is but Dirt, Sir Joſeph—Mere Dirt. / Sir Jo[seph Wittoll]. But I profeſs, it is a Dirt I have vvaſhed my Hands of at preſent; I have laid it all out upon my Back.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1749, Henry Fielding, “In which the Surgeon Makes His Second Appearance”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VIII, page 165:",
"text": "'Then I vvaſh my Hands of you,' cries the Doctor, 'and I deſire you to pay me for the Trouble I have had already.[…].'",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Quite at Home”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 53:",
"text": "He had entirely washed his hands of the difficulty, and it had become ours.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1884, H[enry] Rider Haggard, chapter VII, in Dawn […], volume III, London: Hurst and Blackett, […], →OCLC, page 70:",
"text": "It was no affair of his; he had long ago washed his hands of the whole matter, and left things to take their chance.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1916 September, Rex Beach, “El Demonio’s Child”, in Rainbow’s End […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 245:",
"text": "Although Norine had pretended to wash her hands of all responsibility for Branch's little charge, she was by no means so inhuman as she appeared.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1936 June 8, “National Affairs: Ditch Up, Dam Down”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2012-01-01:",
"text": "[A]fter Congress had refused to appropriate money to continue them, President [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt washed his hands of the two ventures.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2003 March 13, “Immigration: Vermont refugee aid group says policy thins resources”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-03-11:",
"text": "Janet Dench, the executive director of the Canadian Council for refugees, said that both countries are \"washing their hands\" of the problem.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2024 March 20, Philip Haigh, “Euston is the key to unlocking HS2's true potential”, in RAIL, number 1005, page 49:",
"text": "By contrast, today's government ministers appear to have washed their hands of Euston, perhaps thinking that its development can be entirely left to the private sector. I think that's a mistake.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for; to refuse to have any further involvement with."
],
"info_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": ":of<something>"
},
"expansion": "[with of ‘something’]",
"extra_data": {
"tags": [
"of ‘something’"
]
},
"name": "+obj"
}
],
"links": [
[
"absolve",
"absolve"
],
[
"responsibility",
"responsibility"
],
[
"future",
"future#Adjective"
],
[
"blame",
"blame#Noun"
],
[
"refuse",
"refuse#Verb"
],
[
"involvement",
"involvement"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figuratively) To absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for; to refuse to have any further involvement with. [with of ‘something’]"
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "disclaim"
},
{
"word": "disown"
},
{
"word": "repudiate"
}
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌwɒʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌwɔʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "En-au-wash one's hands.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a0/En-au-wash_one%27s_hands.ogg/En-au-wash_one%27s_hands.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/En-au-wash_one%27s_hands.ogg"
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌwɒʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z‿əv/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌwɔʃ wʌnz ˈhæn(d)z‿əv/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "En-au-wash one's hands of.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bd/En-au-wash_one%27s_hands_of.ogg/En-au-wash_one%27s_hands_of.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/En-au-wash_one%27s_hands_of.ogg"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"roman": "ḡasala yadayhi mina l-ʔamri",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "غَسَلَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "rentar-se'n les mans"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "rentar-se'n les mans com Pilat"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jīnpénxǐshǒu",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "金盆洗手"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "pestä kätensä"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "se laver les mains de"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "die Hände in Unschuld waschen"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "nípto tas cheíras mou",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "νίπτω τας χείρας μου"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "mossa kezeit"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "láta sigla sinn sjó"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "þvo hendur sínar af"
},
{
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "cuci tangan"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "lavarsene le mani"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "te o hiku",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "手を引く"
},
{
"code": "mk",
"lang": "Macedonian",
"roman": "míe ráce od",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "ми́е ра́це од"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "cuci tangan"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "umywać ręce"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "lavar as mãos"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "redimir-se de"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "umytʹ ruki",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "умыть руки"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "umyvatʹ ruki",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "умывать руки"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "lavarse las manos"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "desentenderse"
},
{
"code": "tl",
"lang": "Tagalog",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "maghugas-kamay"
},
{
"code": "te",
"lang": "Telugu",
"roman": "cētulu kaḍugukonu",
"sense": "to absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for",
"word": "చేతులు కడుగుకొను"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Jesus",
"Pontius Pilate"
],
"word": "wash one's hands"
}
Download raw JSONL data for wash one's hands meaning in All languages combined (10.8kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.