Last updated: 4 weeks ago
Best offline and online Arabic dictionary tools
A list of the best Android and iOS apps and websites for translating Arabic words into English. Most of them are free.
There are many online and offline Arabic dictionaries available. In this article, I will review some dictionaries and show their advantages and disadvantages.
We will start now with offline dictionaires.
Offline: Classical Arabic and MSA
Lane’s Lexicon
by Graeme Andrews
The biggest advantage of this dictionary is that it allows full-text searches in Arabic and English. Furthermore, Greek and Hebrew text is shown, and the Arabic font is very nice. This dictionary is a desktop application. It can be used offline.
The program runs on Linux, Mac, and Windows.
You can download it here:
Windows, Mac: https://github.com/laneslexicon/lexicon/releases
Linux: https://laneslexicon.github.io/lexicon/site/dev-guide/build
Arabic Almanac
by Abdurahman Erik Taal
This is a very good collection of the most commonly used dictionaries.
It contains not only Hans Wehr and Lane’s Lexicon, but also the Egyptian-Arabic dictionary by Al-Badawi and classical works. The collection is fast, and it can be downloaded for offline usage.
There are also many Arabic-Urdu dictionaries available.
Website – offline and online use: http://www.ejtaal.net/aa/
Al-Mawrid
by Abdurahman Erik Taal
Al-Mawrid is a famous and widespread dictionary for looking up Arabic words and its English translation, authored byย Dr. Rohi Baalbaki.
Al-Mawrid is probably the most advanced contemporary Arabic/English dictionary.
It contains more than 50,000 words with many related appendices. The online version refers to the 7th edition.
Website – offline and online use: http://ejtaal.net/mr/
Online tools
Oxford Dictionary
The Oxford dictionary is an excellent contemporary lexicon. It gives you many examples. It is highly recommended, however, it is not for free.
There is a subscription model. It costs around 17 GBP per year.
Online-Access: https://premium.oxforddictionaries.com
There is also a paperback edition – but it is quite expensive (between 80 and 100 US-Dollars). If you have to translate a lot, it is definitely worth buying. But watch out: only buy the 2014 edition!
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Langenscheidt German – Arabic
If you know German, the online dictionary of Langenscheidt is actually quite good. The print version used to be totally outdated and lacking many things; the online version, however, is quite up-to-date.
Since 2015 with the arrival of many refugees from Arab countries, the online dictionary is for free!
Online Access: https://de.langenscheidt.com/deutsch-arabisch
The AraMaster
by Levi Watkins and a team of contributors
The AraMaster wants to combine Hans Wehr and AraTools – but quicker and easier and more comprehensive.
It is perfect for beginners and intermediate learners. The AraMaster gives you all derived forms and all verb forms (I to X). Every word is fully vowelled and translated. It will help you to get a better feeling for the derived noun forms of the root (ู ูุดูุชูููุงุช).
Website: http://thearamaster.com
Classical Arabic: Hawrami and baheth.info
Hawrami (formerly known as: lisaan.net) and baheth.info are two good collections of sources.
Both websites are a great resource if you need to translate old texts written in Classical Arabic. You need to have a good command of Arabic to understand the Arabic explanation.
hawramani calls itself the world’s largest Arabic lexical resource, made up of the largest and greatest classical Arabic dictionaries, from the earliest authorities (such as Kitab al-Ain of al-Khaleel bin Ahmad) to later dictionaries, such as al-Muhkam of the Andalusian scholar Ibn Seedah and Lisan al-Arab of Ibn Manzur (died 1311 CE / 711 H), all the way to contemporary dictionaries.
Lisaan.net aims to provide a complete dictionary of the Arabic language, “from the dawn of Arabic linguistics to the present day”.
- Online access: http://arabiclexicon.hawramani.com
- Online access: http://www.baheth.info
Arabterm.org
This is a good database if you need to translate technical and political terms as most of the widespread dictionaries are, in fact, completely outdated in this regard.
This database contains more than 150,000 entries (with more than half a million terms).
It covers civil and electrical engineering, water technologies, renewable energies, textile industries and all major scientific disciplines in three languages (Arabic, English, and German).
It is a joint publication of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Website: http://www.arabterm.org
Aratools
This website is very useful for beginners because it gives you the root of a word plus the vowels.
So if you are not sure about the root, just type in the word in Arabic and it will give you the root. Furthermore, it tells you the mood of a verb, the tense as well as the personal pronoun.
There is also an Android and iPhone version. However, the mobile apps are relatively basic and are not for free. I prefer the web-version (which is for free).
- Website: http://www.aratools.com
- Mobile: Android Google Play (11 Euro) or iPhone (14,99 USD)
Arabic verb conjugator
The Arabic Verb conjugator is an interesting project. It is easy to use and definitely useful if you get lost or want to check your homework.
You can type in the root and the machine will conjugate the verb for you. The website is for free.
- Website: http://acon.baykal.be
- Mobile: There is also an app for Android phones on Google Playย (5.99 Euro) as well as for the iPhone (8,99 USD).
As of January 2022, the Android app was not available anymore in the Google Play Store. A reader informed me that the app only works on Android 4 and that the company could not develop the Android app due to lack of financing.
The Doha Historical Dictionary of Arabic
This digital dictionary tells you in which historical sources the word appeared and also shows you the date. You can access The Doha Historical Dictionary of Arabic here: https://www.dohadictionary.org
An algorithm to find the ancient meaning of Arabic words
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The Sharjah Historical Dictionary
There is another historical dictionary that is excellent and was published in August 2024: The Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language.
You can access it online (free): https://www.almojam.org
Arabic dialects
Egyptian Arabic: Lisan Masry
by Mike Green (with the help of a great team!)
This dictionary can be used in both directions (Arabic <-> English). It is an extensive set of learning aids for students of Colloquial Egyptian Arabic.
Words are displayed in Arabic, transliterated and in phonetic writing, with recordings of all the main word forms. There is also a thesaurus.
What is of great help too, there are audio recordings of most words and examples.
Website: https://eu.lisaanmasry.org
This program can be run on Linux, Windows, and Mac (Java). Note that it requires Java – you can download it here.
Mobile: There is an Android versionย as well as an iPhone version – both are for free!
Egyptian and Levantine Arabic: Lughatuna
by Lughatuna LLC
This is a great resource for Egyptian Arabic and Levantine Arabic,ย including tens of thousands of definitions and examples, sayings and proverbs. Lughatuna has started to include also North African dialects.
You can use it online (website) or download a mobile app. This dictionary can be used in both directions (Arabic <-> English).
- Website: http://www.livingarabic.com
- Mobile: There is an app for Android (1.99 Euro/Dollar) and iPhone (1.99 Euro/Dollar).
I have interviewed the developer and author Hossam Abouzahr for my series 9273 roots.
20 questions: Hossam Abouzahr (#3)
Episode #3 of "9273 roots": 20 questions for Hossam Abouzahr, who has created one of the most up-to-date online dictionaries of Arabic dialects: Lughatuna (Living Arabic).
Mobile apps only (Android and Apple iOS)
Many websites have a good responsive layout. For example, https://ejtaal.net/aa/ (Hans Wehr) works very well on your mobile browser.
Android and iOS: Lughatuna
I have covered Lughatuna in the previous section.
Mobile: There is an app for Android (1.99 Euro/Dollar) and iPhone (1.99 Euro/Dollar).
Android: Arabic Dictionaries (for Arabic –> English)
by Flow Technology
This app is for free and does not even include ads.
Almost every serious dictionary is included: Hans Wehr, Lane’s Lexicon, Steingass, Brill, A Dictionary and Glossary of the Koran by John Penrice, Vocabulary Of The Holy Quran by Dr. Abdullah Abbas Nadwi, Verbal Idoms of the Quraan by Mustansir Mir, Dictionary Of The Holy Quran, by Malik Ghulam Farid, Dictionary of The Holy Qur’an by Abdul Mannan Omar as well as several Urdu-Arabic dictionaries.
Furthermore, it includes almost every important Arabic-Arabic dictionary, such as Lisan al-‘Arab, Tasheeh Lisan ul Arab (Arabic), Al-Munjid, Hind/Badawi (Egyptian), Mufradat al Quran by Raghib (Arabic), Asaas al Balaaghah by Zamakhshari (Arabic), Umdat ul Huffaaz (Arabic), Misbaah ul Muneer by Fuyyumi (Arabic), Muheet al-Muheet (Arabic)
You also find Indonesian / Malaysian dictionaries such as Al-Munawwir, Kamus Arab-Indonesia Terlengkap, oleh KH. Ahmad Warson Munawwir, Kamus Idris Al-Marbawi (Arabic-Malay), Ensiklopedia Al-Quran (Malay): Kajian Kosa Kata, Quraish Shihab.
Mobile: You can get the app for free at the Google Play Store.
Android: Assiraj – Arabic verb conjugation
by Assiraj Almonir
This app is perfect if you want to analyze verbs and roots. Not only that the app will conjugate the verb – you can also see where the root is used in the Qu’ran!
Advantages of Assiraj:
- Triliteral roots with all possible conjugations
- Quadriliteral conjugation
- Active and passive voice
- All moods (indicative, subjunctive, jussive, and imperative)
- Qur’an tajweed in color
- Meaning of the word in an Islamic context
The author offers the app for FREE!
Mobile: You can get the app for free at the Google Play Store.
Android: VerbAce (English –> Arabic)
VerbAce is a very good dictionary if you want to translate from English into Arabic. The database includes commonly used phrases (mostly contemporary) which clarify the meanings further.
It is pretty useful for beginners and intermediates who need a quick translation or deal with contemporary texts or newspaper articles.
Mobile: You can get the Android-Version for free, but you have to download the apk-file and install it manually as it is not available on the Google Play Store.
Android and Apple: Hans Wehr
Hans Wehrr app by Gibreel Abdullah
Gibreel Abdullah is a developer from India. He created a new app for the Hans Wehr dictionary because all other available Hans Wehr dictionary apps used scanned pages which made it difficult to navigate. I guess that the 4th edition was used as a database, but I am not sure. It offers full-text search in Arabic and English!
Android: You can get it on the Google Play Store for free.
Hans Wehr app by Uwais Iqbal (Android) and Omar Jahangir (iPhone)
The Hans Wehr app (ejtaal) is a digital version of the wide-spread Arabic-English Hans Wehr dictionary. You can search through the dictionary by using the root letter of the word and the app will display the corresponding page from the Hans Wehr dictionary.
Android: You can get it on the Google Play Store for free.
iPhone: Download link for Apple iPhones.
iOS: Lane’s Lexicon
by Omar Jahangir
Lane’s Lexicon is very useful if you deal with old text. This free app works on iPhones and iPads.
-> You can download it here
Automated Translation
Reverso
This is the perfect all-in-one tool! Not only that its translation feature is unique, it also offers synonyms and the conjugation of verbs.
Remark: @Tim Gregory – thanks for telling me!
If you only use it occasionally, the service is for free!
AI translation
Reverso provides machine translation tools for automated translation of texts in various languages, including neural machine translation.
It offers many languages, among them English, German, Japanese, French, and Spanish (okay, basically all major languages ;-).
Website: https://context.reverso.net/translation/arabic-english/
Synonyms
This is a relatively new feature of Reverso – and it works quite well for Arabic.
Website: https://synonyms.reverso.net/synonym
Conjugation of verbs
Reverso conjugates verbs pretty okay, but it struggles with sophisticated verb forms and patterns. However, it is a good tool for beginners as it gives the masculine and feminine forms.
Transliterated words
Fuzzy Arabic (transliterated words –> Arabic)
by Michelle Fullwood
I often struggled to identify Arabic words because I failed to decode the transliteration. You sometimes need a lot of imagination – or you use Fuzzy Arabic which does the work for you and gives you almost all possible combinations.
Thanks to this Arabic dictionary, you can look up words even if you don’t know how to spell them in Arabic. It is powered by Yamli and the Buckwalter Morphological Analyzer.
Website: http://fuzzyarabic.herokuapp.com
Note: In case you are interested in the code, check out here GitHub-page.
Arabic – Arabic dictionaries
I often use Arabic – Arabic dictionaries. There are many options as well, but most of the dictionaries are outdated.
I can definitely recommend ุงูู ูุฌุฏ (al-Munjid). It is one of the very few comprehensive dictionaries that also list words which you most probably won’t find in English – Arabic dictionaries such as medical terms, names of insects, etc.
It is hard to get, and you have to watch out to get the correct edition. It is best to copy the following information and ask your bookseller.
- Title: ุงูู ูุฌุฏ ูู ุงููุบุฉ ุงูุนุฑุจูุฉ ุงูู ุนุงุตุฑุฉ
- Edition: 2015 or newer
- Pages: 1680
- Publisher: ุฏุงุฑ ุงูู ุดุฑู
Other useful tools you may wanna have a look at:
- What are the sources of sunnah.com and shamela.ws?
- What are the best websites for free Arabic lessons?
- What are the best dictionaries for Palestinian Arabic?
- What are the best dictionaries for Arabic dialects?
- What are the best Christmas gifts for Arabic nerds in 2022?
Do you know any other good website? Please let me know or share it with our readers by writing a commentary – thanks a lot!
If you are more of an old-school type of person, check out this collection of the best books about Arabic grammar.
Disclaimer: Although care has been taken in preparing the information provided to you, I cannot be held responsible if you encounter copyright issues regarding the dictionaries I have presented. The use of the contents of the respective websites and apps is at your own risk.
Thank you very much, jazaka allah khair
Thanks for such a great post. I would like you to read through the features of alqamoos.org dictionary on this post and let me know what you think after comparing to some of the dictionaries listed here.
In terms of powerful search, I believe http://www.alqamoos.org is the best. The same site also hosts http://www.arabicterminology.com which has the same features in the Arabic Arabic dictionary.
http://www.alqamoos.org/blog/alqamoos-english-arabic-dictionary-search-tips-and-tricks
There’s also this offline app of Lane’s Arabic Lexicon and Hans Wehr
Best Lisan al-Arab on AppStore:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ูุณุงู-ุงูุนุฑุจ-lisan-al-arab/id1447048546?ls=1&mt=8
I like the CJKI Arabic Verb Conjugator (CAVE), described here http://www.cjk.org/cjk/arabic/cave/cave.htm
That page only mentions the iOS app, but there is an Android version which I use (it costs 7.99GBP).
Thanks a lot! I didn’t know CAVE. I will have a look at it!
Living Arabic is also fantastic for Egyptian and Levantine:
http://www.livingarabic.com/
Try also assiraj app, inculde like aratool plus the conjugation, conjugate all verbs without known exception.
It’s free no adds and offline, no permissions.
Keys: learn arabic, arabic conjugation, arabic dictionary
http://goo.gl/h5Shab
Hi there!
There is the Al Manhal app (for iOS & Android) for Arabic books; you can visit Al Manhal Store (which contains Arabic books – available in both print and electronic format), and your ebook purchases from it (or the app itself for that matter) would be accessible from the app.
Main store: http://store.almanhal.com
Links for the apps: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.it.almanhal&hl=en
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/al-manhal/id961420298?mt=8
I absolutely recommend Reverso Context. The app (android & iOS) is free with a limited number of search results, but they only ask for $12 a year for more. It works with Arabic and many other languages, providing parallel corpora for your results instead of a dictionary entry. The website (http://context.reverso.net/translation/) also includes a Chrome plugin allowing you to highlight and right-click a word to search, or click a button in the toolbar to manually enter a word.
That looks terrific indeed, thanks a lot !