"effete" meaning in English

See effete in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ɪˈfiːt/ [UK], /ɪˈfit/ [US] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-effete.wav [UK] Forms: more effete [comparative], most effete [superlative]
Rhymes: -iːt Etymology: From Latin effētus (“exhausted”, literally “that has given birth”), 1620s. Etymology templates: {{bor|en|la|effētus|lit=that has given birth|t=exhausted}} Latin effētus (“exhausted”, literally “that has given birth”) Head templates: {{en-adj}} effete (comparative more effete, superlative most effete)
  1. (obsolete) Of substances, quantities etc: exhausted, spent, worn-out. Tags: obsolete
    Sense id: en-effete-en-adj-Wv3nualP Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 4 45 7
  2. Lacking strength or vitality; feeble, powerless, impotent. Translations (lacking strength): изчерпан (izčerpan) (Bulgarian), изтощен (iztošten) (Bulgarian), exhaust (Catalan), affaibli (French), kraftlos (German), entkräftet (German), schwach (German), erschöpft (German), schwächlich (German), lasch (German), lahm (German), matt (German), dürftig (German), logoro (Italian), slăbit (Romanian), истощённый (istoščónnyj) (Russian), débil (Spanish), виснажений (vysnaženyj) [masculine] (Ukrainian), знесилений (znesylenyj) [masculine] (Ukrainian)
    Sense id: en-effete-en-adj-DbZQ-hYy Disambiguation of 'lacking strength': 2 89 3 6
  3. Decadent, weak through self-indulgence. Translations (decadent): упадъчен (upadǎčen) (Bulgarian), decadent (Catalan), décadent (French), verweichlicht (German), verwöhnt (German), dekadent (German), effeminiert (German), упаднический (upadničeskij) (Russian), decadente (Spanish), занепадницький (zanepadnycʹkyj) [masculine] (Ukrainian), декадентський (dekadentsʹkyj) [masculine] (Ukrainian)
    Sense id: en-effete-en-adj-5t5BRqvT Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 4 45 7 Disambiguation of 'decadent': 2 2 92 4
  4. (of a person) Affected, overrefined.
    Sense id: en-effete-en-adj-0QyZGOxu
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: effœte [obsolete] Derived forms: effetely, effeteness

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for effete meaning in English (8.1kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "effetely"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "effeteness"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "effētus",
        "lit": "that has given birth",
        "t": "exhausted"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin effētus (“exhausted”, literally “that has given birth”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin effētus (“exhausted”, literally “that has given birth”), 1620s.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more effete",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most effete",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "effete (comparative more effete, superlative most effete)",
      "name": "en-adj"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "44 4 45 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of substances, quantities etc: exhausted, spent, worn-out."
      ],
      "id": "en-effete-en-adj-Wv3nualP",
      "links": [
        [
          "exhausted",
          "exhausted"
        ],
        [
          "spent",
          "spent"
        ],
        [
          "worn-out",
          "worn-out"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) Of substances, quantities etc: exhausted, spent, worn-out."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1929, George Macaulay Trevelyan, History of England: From 1485 to the End of the Reign of Queen Anne, 1714, page 457",
          "text": "Amid the effete monarchies and princedoms of feudal Europe, morally and materially exhausted by the Thirty Years' War, the only hope of resistance to France lay in the little Republic of merchants, Holland.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989, Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces, Faber & Faber, published 2009",
          "text": "They used rock'n'roll as a weapon against itself. With all instruments but guitar, bass, drums, and voice written off as effete, as elitist accoutrements of a professionalist cult of technique, it was music best suited to anger and frustration, […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Jules Witcover, Very Strange Bedfellows: The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew, page 74",
          "text": "A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete core of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals (Spiro Agnew, October 1969)",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 August 19, Luc Sante, “On the Road Again”, in New York Times",
          "text": "Most writers merely produce effete works on paper, you might say, but Kerouac went and wrestled with the tree itself.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018, Michael Cottakis, Colliding worlds: Donald Trump and the European Union",
          "text": "For the President, the EU is an essentially effete project – a civilian power that likes to see itself as human rights based and collegiate, but with no hard power of its own.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Lacking strength or vitality; feeble, powerless, impotent."
      ],
      "id": "en-effete-en-adj-DbZQ-hYy",
      "links": [
        [
          "feeble",
          "feeble"
        ],
        [
          "powerless",
          "powerless"
        ],
        [
          "impotent",
          "impotent"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "izčerpan",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "изчерпан"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "iztošten",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "изтощен"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "exhaust"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "affaibli"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "kraftlos"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "entkräftet"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "schwach"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "erschöpft"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "schwächlich"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "lasch"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "lahm"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "matt"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "dürftig"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "logoro"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "slăbit"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "istoščónnyj",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "истощённый"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "word": "débil"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "vysnaženyj",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "виснажений"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 89 3 6",
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "znesylenyj",
          "sense": "lacking strength",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "знесилений"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "44 4 45 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster and Other Essays, New York: Little, Brown and Company, page 238",
          "text": "In fact, one obvious project of the MLF […] is to counter the idea that lobster is unusually luxe or unhealthy, suitable only for effete palates or the occasional blow-the-diet treat.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Decadent, weak through self-indulgence."
      ],
      "id": "en-effete-en-adj-5t5BRqvT",
      "links": [
        [
          "Decadent",
          "decadent"
        ],
        [
          "weak",
          "weak"
        ],
        [
          "self-indulgence",
          "self-indulgence"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 2 92 4",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "upadǎčen",
          "sense": "decadent",
          "word": "упадъчен"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 2 92 4",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "decadent",
          "word": "decadent"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 2 92 4",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "decadent",
          "word": "décadent"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 2 92 4",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "decadent",
          "word": "verweichlicht"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 2 92 4",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "decadent",
          "word": "verwöhnt"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 2 92 4",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "decadent",
          "word": "dekadent"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 2 92 4",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "decadent",
          "word": "effeminiert"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 2 92 4",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "upadničeskij",
          "sense": "decadent",
          "word": "упаднический"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 2 92 4",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "decadent",
          "word": "decadente"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 2 92 4",
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "zanepadnycʹkyj",
          "sense": "decadent",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "занепадницький"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 2 92 4",
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "dekadentsʹkyj",
          "sense": "decadent",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "декадентський"
        }
      ]
    },
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      "glosses": [
        "Affected, overrefined."
      ],
      "id": "en-effete-en-adj-0QyZGOxu",
      "links": [
        [
          "Affected",
          "affected"
        ],
        [
          "overrefined",
          "overrefined"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(of a person) Affected, overrefined."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of a person"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈfiːt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈfit/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-iːt"
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      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-effete.wav",
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      "tags": [
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      "text": "Audio (UK)"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "word": "effœte"
    }
  ],
  "word": "effete"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English adjectives",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English terms borrowed from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "Rhymes:English/iːt",
    "Rhymes:English/iːt/2 syllables"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "effetely"
    },
    {
      "word": "effeteness"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
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        "lit": "that has given birth",
        "t": "exhausted"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin effētus (“exhausted”, literally “that has given birth”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
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  "etymology_text": "From Latin effētus (“exhausted”, literally “that has given birth”), 1620s.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more effete",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
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    {
      "form": "most effete",
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        "superlative"
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "effete (comparative more effete, superlative most effete)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses"
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      "glosses": [
        "Of substances, quantities etc: exhausted, spent, worn-out."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "exhausted",
          "exhausted"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) Of substances, quantities etc: exhausted, spent, worn-out."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
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    {
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        "English terms with quotations"
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          "text": "Amid the effete monarchies and princedoms of feudal Europe, morally and materially exhausted by the Thirty Years' War, the only hope of resistance to France lay in the little Republic of merchants, Holland.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989, Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces, Faber & Faber, published 2009",
          "text": "They used rock'n'roll as a weapon against itself. With all instruments but guitar, bass, drums, and voice written off as effete, as elitist accoutrements of a professionalist cult of technique, it was music best suited to anger and frustration, […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Jules Witcover, Very Strange Bedfellows: The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew, page 74",
          "text": "A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete core of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals (Spiro Agnew, October 1969)",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 August 19, Luc Sante, “On the Road Again”, in New York Times",
          "text": "Most writers merely produce effete works on paper, you might say, but Kerouac went and wrestled with the tree itself.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018, Michael Cottakis, Colliding worlds: Donald Trump and the European Union",
          "text": "For the President, the EU is an essentially effete project – a civilian power that likes to see itself as human rights based and collegiate, but with no hard power of its own.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Lacking strength or vitality; feeble, powerless, impotent."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "feeble",
          "feeble"
        ],
        [
          "powerless",
          "powerless"
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        [
          "impotent",
          "impotent"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster and Other Essays, New York: Little, Brown and Company, page 238",
          "text": "In fact, one obvious project of the MLF […] is to counter the idea that lobster is unusually luxe or unhealthy, suitable only for effete palates or the occasional blow-the-diet treat.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Decadent, weak through self-indulgence."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Decadent",
          "decadent"
        ],
        [
          "weak",
          "weak"
        ],
        [
          "self-indulgence",
          "self-indulgence"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Affected, overrefined."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Affected",
          "affected"
        ],
        [
          "overrefined",
          "overrefined"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(of a person) Affected, overrefined."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of a person"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈfiːt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈfit/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
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    {
      "rhymes": "-iːt"
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      "tags": [
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "word": "effœte"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "izčerpan",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "изчерпан"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "iztošten",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "изтощен"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "exhaust"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "affaibli"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "kraftlos"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "entkräftet"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "schwach"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "erschöpft"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "schwächlich"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "lasch"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "lahm"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "matt"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "dürftig"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "logoro"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "slăbit"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "istoščónnyj",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "истощённый"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "word": "débil"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "vysnaženyj",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "виснажений"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "znesylenyj",
      "sense": "lacking strength",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "знесилений"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "upadǎčen",
      "sense": "decadent",
      "word": "упадъчен"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "decadent",
      "word": "decadent"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "decadent",
      "word": "décadent"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "decadent",
      "word": "verweichlicht"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "decadent",
      "word": "verwöhnt"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "decadent",
      "word": "dekadent"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "decadent",
      "word": "effeminiert"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "upadničeskij",
      "sense": "decadent",
      "word": "упаднический"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "decadent",
      "word": "decadente"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "zanepadnycʹkyj",
      "sense": "decadent",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "занепадницький"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "dekadentsʹkyj",
      "sense": "decadent",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "декадентський"
    }
  ],
  "word": "effete"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). 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.