"honcho" meaning in English

See honcho in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈhɑn.t͡ʃoʊ/ [US], /ˈhɒn.tʃəʊ/ [UK] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-honcho.wav [Southern-England] Forms: honchos [plural], honchoes [plural]
enPR: hŏnʹchō Rhymes: -ɒntʃəʊ Etymology: American English, from Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”), from 19th c. Mandarin 班長 (bānzhǎng, “team leader”). Probably entered English during World War II: many apocryphal stories describe American soldiers hearing Japanese prisoners-of-war refer to their lieutenants as hanchō. Etymology templates: {{bor|en|ja|班長|t=squad leader|tr=hanchō}} Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”), {{der|en|cmn|-}} Mandarin, {{zh-l|*班長|gloss=team leader|tr=bānzhǎng}} 班長 (bānzhǎng, “team leader”), {{m|ja|hanchō|sc=Latn}} hanchō Head templates: {{en-noun|s|es}} honcho (plural honchos or honchoes)
  1. (informal) boss, leader Tags: informal Derived forms: head honcho Translations (boss, leader): Chef [masculine] (German), Boss [masculine] (German), Oberguru [masculine] (German), главуч (glavuč) [masculine] (Macedonian)
    Sense id: en-honcho-en-noun-M8QfSKuK

Verb

IPA: /ˈhɑn.t͡ʃoʊ/ [US], /ˈhɒn.tʃəʊ/ [UK] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-honcho.wav [Southern-England] Forms: honchos [present, singular, third-person], honchoing [participle, present], honchoed [participle, past], honchoed [past]
enPR: hŏnʹchō Rhymes: -ɒntʃəʊ Etymology: American English, from Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”), from 19th c. Mandarin 班長 (bānzhǎng, “team leader”). Probably entered English during World War II: many apocryphal stories describe American soldiers hearing Japanese prisoners-of-war refer to their lieutenants as hanchō. Etymology templates: {{bor|en|ja|班長|t=squad leader|tr=hanchō}} Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”), {{der|en|cmn|-}} Mandarin, {{zh-l|*班長|gloss=team leader|tr=bānzhǎng}} 班長 (bānzhǎng, “team leader”), {{m|ja|hanchō|sc=Latn}} hanchō Head templates: {{en-verb}} honcho (third-person singular simple present honchos, present participle honchoing, simple past and past participle honchoed)
  1. (transitive, informal, Canada, US) To lead or manage. Tags: Canada, US, informal, transitive
    Sense id: en-honcho-en-verb-WfvkyqIZ Categories (other): American English, Canadian English, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 56

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for honcho meaning in English (6.6kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ja",
        "3": "班長",
        "t": "squad leader",
        "tr": "hanchō"
      },
      "expansion": "Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
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      "name": "zh-l"
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        "sc": "Latn"
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  "etymology_text": "American English, from Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”), from 19th c. Mandarin 班長 (bānzhǎng, “team leader”). Probably entered English during World War II: many apocryphal stories describe American soldiers hearing Japanese prisoners-of-war refer to their lieutenants as hanchō.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "honchos",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "honchoes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s",
        "2": "es"
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    }
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  "hyphenation": [
    "hon‧cho"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "head honcho"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1986, Oliver Stone, Platoon (motion picture), spoken by Private Gator Lerner (Johnny Depp)",
          "text": "Says they had no choice. Says the NVA killed the old honcho when he said no. Now he says all the rice is theirs.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992 October 26, Calvin Sims, “Hard Times, Even on Rodeo Drive”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "For years, snobbery has been a hallmark of this city of wealth and glamour, movie stars and entertainment honchos, where it is possible to spend $20,000 for a watch, $6,000 for a suit with 14-karat gold pinstriping or $15,000 for a handbag of rare leather.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Dave Barry, Big Trouble, Penguin, published 2010, page 13",
          "text": "Mostly he wrote what the higher honchos in the newsroom referred to, often condescendingly, as “offbeat” stories.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Michael Moore, Stupid White Men, page 22",
          "text": "Gulfstream makes jets for both Hollywood honchos and foreign governments like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "boss, leader"
      ],
      "id": "en-honcho-en-noun-M8QfSKuK",
      "links": [
        [
          "boss",
          "boss"
        ],
        [
          "leader",
          "leader"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) boss, leader"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "boss, leader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Chef"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "boss, leader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Boss"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "boss, leader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Oberguru"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "glavuč",
          "sense": "boss, leader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "главуч"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhɑn.t͡ʃoʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhɒn.tʃəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒntʃəʊ"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-honcho.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/43/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-honcho.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-honcho.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    },
    {
      "enpr": "hŏnʹchō"
    }
  ],
  "word": "honcho"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ja",
        "3": "班長",
        "t": "squad leader",
        "tr": "hanchō"
      },
      "expansion": "Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
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        "1": "*班長",
        "gloss": "team leader",
        "tr": "bānzhǎng"
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      "name": "zh-l"
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        "2": "hanchō",
        "sc": "Latn"
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    }
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  "etymology_text": "American English, from Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”), from 19th c. Mandarin 班長 (bānzhǎng, “team leader”). Probably entered English during World War II: many apocryphal stories describe American soldiers hearing Japanese prisoners-of-war refer to their lieutenants as hanchō.",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "honchos",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    {
      "form": "honchoing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
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    {
      "form": "honchoed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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    {
      "form": "honchoed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "honcho (third-person singular simple present honchos, present participle honchoing, simple past and past participle honchoed)",
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  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "hon‧cho"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Canadian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "44 56",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2010, Buddy Valastro, Cake Boss, Simon and Schuster, published 2020, page 142",
          "text": "I had never honchoed that many people so even something as simple as ordering them to knead dough or fondant became an important decision.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, David Lewis Yewdall, Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound, Taylor & Francis",
          "text": "The task of choosing the clips that comprised the allotted 10 minutes in the bake-off was left to the supervising sound editor, as it was he or she who honchoed the preparation of the soundtrack for the rerecording mixing stage in the first place.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To lead or manage."
      ],
      "id": "en-honcho-en-verb-WfvkyqIZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "Canada",
          "Canada"
        ],
        [
          "US",
          "American English"
        ],
        [
          "lead",
          "lead"
        ],
        [
          "manage",
          "manage"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, informal, Canada, US) To lead or manage."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "US",
        "informal",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhɑn.t͡ʃoʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhɒn.tʃəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒntʃəʊ"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-honcho.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/43/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-honcho.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-honcho.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    },
    {
      "enpr": "hŏnʹchō"
    }
  ],
  "word": "honcho"
}
{
  "categories": [
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    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from Japanese",
    "English terms derived from Japanese",
    "English terms derived from Mandarin",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs",
    "Rhymes:English/ɒntʃəʊ",
    "Rhymes:English/ɒntʃəʊ/2 syllables"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "head honcho"
    }
  ],
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        "2": "ja",
        "3": "班長",
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        "tr": "hanchō"
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      "expansion": "Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”)",
      "name": "bor"
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
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        "3": "-"
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      "args": {
        "1": "*班長",
        "gloss": "team leader",
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      "name": "zh-l"
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        "2": "hanchō",
        "sc": "Latn"
      },
      "expansion": "hanchō",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "American English, from Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”), from 19th c. Mandarin 班長 (bānzhǎng, “team leader”). Probably entered English during World War II: many apocryphal stories describe American soldiers hearing Japanese prisoners-of-war refer to their lieutenants as hanchō.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "honchos",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "honchoes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s",
        "2": "es"
      },
      "expansion": "honcho (plural honchos or honchoes)",
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    }
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    "hon‧cho"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1986, Oliver Stone, Platoon (motion picture), spoken by Private Gator Lerner (Johnny Depp)",
          "text": "Says they had no choice. Says the NVA killed the old honcho when he said no. Now he says all the rice is theirs.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992 October 26, Calvin Sims, “Hard Times, Even on Rodeo Drive”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "For years, snobbery has been a hallmark of this city of wealth and glamour, movie stars and entertainment honchos, where it is possible to spend $20,000 for a watch, $6,000 for a suit with 14-karat gold pinstriping or $15,000 for a handbag of rare leather.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Dave Barry, Big Trouble, Penguin, published 2010, page 13",
          "text": "Mostly he wrote what the higher honchos in the newsroom referred to, often condescendingly, as “offbeat” stories.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Michael Moore, Stupid White Men, page 22",
          "text": "Gulfstream makes jets for both Hollywood honchos and foreign governments like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "boss, leader"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "boss",
          "boss"
        ],
        [
          "leader",
          "leader"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) boss, leader"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhɑn.t͡ʃoʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhɒn.tʃəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒntʃəʊ"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-honcho.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/43/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-honcho.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-honcho.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    },
    {
      "enpr": "hŏnʹchō"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "boss, leader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Chef"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "boss, leader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Boss"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "boss, leader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Oberguru"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "glavuč",
      "sense": "boss, leader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "главуч"
    }
  ],
  "word": "honcho"
}

{
  "categories": [
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    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from Japanese",
    "English terms derived from Japanese",
    "English terms derived from Mandarin",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs",
    "Rhymes:English/ɒntʃəʊ",
    "Rhymes:English/ɒntʃəʊ/2 syllables"
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        "3": "班長",
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      "expansion": "Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
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      "args": {
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        "1": "*班長",
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      "name": "zh-l"
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        "2": "hanchō",
        "sc": "Latn"
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    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "American English, from Japanese 班長 (hanchō, “squad leader”), from 19th c. Mandarin 班長 (bānzhǎng, “team leader”). Probably entered English during World War II: many apocryphal stories describe American soldiers hearing Japanese prisoners-of-war refer to their lieutenants as hanchō.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "honchos",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "honchoing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "honchoed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "honchoed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "honcho (third-person singular simple present honchos, present participle honchoing, simple past and past participle honchoed)",
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  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "hon‧cho"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "Canadian English",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2010, Buddy Valastro, Cake Boss, Simon and Schuster, published 2020, page 142",
          "text": "I had never honchoed that many people so even something as simple as ordering them to knead dough or fondant became an important decision.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, David Lewis Yewdall, Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound, Taylor & Francis",
          "text": "The task of choosing the clips that comprised the allotted 10 minutes in the bake-off was left to the supervising sound editor, as it was he or she who honchoed the preparation of the soundtrack for the rerecording mixing stage in the first place.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To lead or manage."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Canada",
          "Canada"
        ],
        [
          "US",
          "American English"
        ],
        [
          "lead",
          "lead"
        ],
        [
          "manage",
          "manage"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, informal, Canada, US) To lead or manage."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "US",
        "informal",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhɑn.t͡ʃoʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhɒn.tʃəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒntʃəʊ"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-honcho.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/43/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-honcho.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-honcho.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/43/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-honcho.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-honcho.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    },
    {
      "enpr": "hŏnʹchō"
    }
  ],
  "word": "honcho"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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.