Wiktionary:Information desk/2025/April

How do you include the dialect of words? Whatback11 (talk) 14:00, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

If you have a word that is used in one way generally in a language, but has a particular usage in one dialect, you can do something like I did at troll recently: see the definition that is Michigan-specific which clearly marks it as being part of the Michigan dialect. The way it is done is with the {{lb}} template. In this case, the code {{lb|en|Michigan}} gives the label "Michigan" and categorizes it as Michigan English. Take a look at {{lb}} to see what kind of options it has and what it can do. Let me know if you have any further questions. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 19:20, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

If I go to https://www.wiktionary.org , that is, the language-agnostic landing page, and type something in the box, and hit the search button, it takes me to Wikipedia. This appears to me to be a recent change, like in the last day or so.

More details: If I select French, it sends me to the French Wikipedia. If there's no page with the word as its title, I'm dumped into a Wikipedia search page. If instead of pressing the button I select the item from the list that pops up (pops down?) it goes to the expected Wiktionary page. Card Zero (talk) 09:19, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T391297 Vininn126 (talk) 09:29, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

...which shows the bug was resolved on 16 Apr 2025. And it now works for me. --Enginear 21:03, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

Hello! I am new to Wiktionary, and currently I am currently adding the definitions to various military ranks to here, and I would like to ask if using the actual government documents and websites that codify the specific ranks are suitable enough to be references or even quotations? They provide evidence of the use of the more obscure ranks, and some of them are laws that specify them, and I am yet unsure if they are adequate enough to be used as quotations or just references. Thank you! LeSchwarzHerzog (talk) 14:35, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

If the text is in prose, it could be suitable as a quotation. Generally, though, you could cite these as reference, yes; nevertheless, other dictionaries are usually more useful and suitable. I’ve been cleaning up your Portuguese entries, and if you look at my contributions, you can see how I’ve added Further reading sections and such. Try to do that if you make more. Polomo47 (talk) 15:40, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

I see, thank you! Especially for cleaning up my entries. I'll be sure to keep everything in mind! LeSchwarzHerzog (talk) 15:43, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

I have been using Wiktionary for a while and recently it has begun to send me to Wikipedia when typing something in the search bar in the front page. I'm apparently unable to actually search wiktionary unless I use the drop-down that appears which auto-completes your search query. Is this normal? 174.103.179.215 21:13, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

There is a thread just two threads up asking the same question where I provided a link to where this issue has been reported. Vininn126 (talk) 21:14, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

It was broken, and has since been corrected. --Enginear 21:05, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

In an old botany dictionary: "boll, pr. boal, the fruit capsule or pericarp, especially of the cotton plant; bolling, pr. boaling, = pollard." It seems to indicate some kind of non-standard variant. 2A00:23C5:FE1C:3701:F050:4AD7:86D3:BA99 19:12, 9 April 2025 (UTC)

proscribed/prohibited? Since it is old it may be pronounced, as if phonetically transcribed using the Latin alphapet. Saumache (talk) 20:17, 9 April 2025 (UTC)

romanz has <i lang="la">rōmānicē</i>

html spec allows it.

i am converting html markup to wiki markup! should i leave as it is or provide guidance for further action. Wikt911 (talk) 09:01, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

 Done Fixed; removed HTML. 2A00:23C5:FE1C:3701:6544:BFA6:97A9:4E0 09:06, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

If the word still needs to have semantic markup for its language, put it inside of span instead. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 23:11, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Hello, how can I indicate that certain phrases act as a sentence or a clause and not, for example, as an adverb or a noun or an interjection? For example heads will roll, I think not, the sky's the limit

This may be obvious for native speakers but it's not obvious for not fluent speakers

I've tried to ask @Surjection: but they only told me that "sentence" is not a valid part of speech Akweakwe (talk) 07:35, 13 April 2025 (UTC)

What's wrong with the way those examples are entered? They all have POS header "Phrase" and POS as "phrase." Isn't this exactly what you were asking for?

Killeroonie (talk) 02:22, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

Why are some "revisions" are blacked out, is it like some revision that is so bad, its no longer visible to others? - Nail123Real (talk) 19:33, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

Like this one for days (https://en.wiktionary.orghttps://dictious.com/en/Appendix:Days_of_the_week), I searched for one with "no" but couldn't find yet. Bncym (talk) 09:13, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

Found it just after asking for it (https://en.wiktionary.orghttps://dictious.com/en/Appendix:yes/no/not), although a larger one with more languages would help if such exists. Bncym (talk) 09:15, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

There is no/translations and yes/translations. The translations for not are at its entry. 115.188.110.122 11:27, 17 April 2025 (UTC)

Thank you! Bncym (talk) 01:07, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

How do I create a category page, and how do I add everything with a certain tag (I’m not sure if this is the right word) to it? I want to create a page for English solemn terms, just like a few other languages, and add all the words marked as solemn, just like the rare terms or poetic terms. AtTheTownHouse (talk) 00:13, 20 April 2025 (UTC)

Unfortunately, creating categories in Wiktionary is a bit more complicated than at most of our sister projects. In almost all cases, you just put {{auto cat}} in the category but the only way that works is by having properly edited a relevant module. If you're not familiar with Lua and module editing, then it may be something that is too complex at this juncture. As for the actual content of your category, can you tell me more about it? What are some example entries that would go into it? —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 01:05, 20 April 2025 (UTC)

@Koavf you can direct new users to Help:Category. @AtTheTownHouse what are you planning to mark as a "solemn" term? I'm not really sure if this label is used in English linguistics, although I'm open to being proven wrong. This, that and the other (talk) 13:30, 20 April 2025 (UTC)

Nevermind, I did a search, and while there are English words tagged as rare, poetic, and even "officialese," there are none tagged as solemn, only ones in other languages. AtTheTownHouse (talk) 01:09, 10 May 2025 (UTC)

Is it OK for me to split such a header and then make it level 4/5 to avoid the confusion encountered with an otherwise bottom page single header? My case is for vas. Saumache (talk) 11:17, 20 April 2025 (UTC)

Somewhere in our help section is a note saying that the formatting rules are not sacrosanct -- if you find an entry where they don't seem to work well, you can do something else which seems better, but be aware that other editors are likely to alter it to comply with the normal rules if they disagree with you. TBH, in nearly 2000 edits, I've only once had to apply that, in settling an argument about could eat the crotch out of a low flying duck, where my edit summary said "This is why we prefer phrases to be infinitive, but that doesn't really work with subjunctive tenses of verbs with no extant infinitive! The substitute "to be able to eat..." just doesn't cut it."; and 7 years later, I see no one has altered my non-compliant version, presumably because no one has thought of a better solution. So yes, in principle you could do it, perhaps when the ref for one etymology was in one work and the ref for the other was in a separate one.

However, in this instance, you have given identical refs for each etymology, so IMO, it would be better to have a single ref in the normal level 3 location. Even if the refs were on different pages of the same work, personally I'd look to see them listed at the bottom with notes of both page numbers, and again even for different works, I'd list them both at the bottom, with a note of which referred to which since, IMO, that gives a clearer explanation than listing them at the ends of the level 4 sections without mentioning the oddity that neither work included both etymologies, which is a warning flag that there might be a fundamental difference of opinion between sources (but as per my last para, I can also imagine cases where they should be separate, such as when both sources are specialist dictionaries relating to separate specialisms).

There is an underlying point that it is unfortunate that, although in almost all cases where we have Refs, frequently the last item in an entry, they relate to Etymologies, the first item. There are many editors who would like the etymologies to either be hidden by default or positioned after the Definitions, so that the Defs are not so far down the page, since they are all that most dictionary users want to see. But perhaps there is a better way. The OED now has a format which is not perfect but does open a page with several sub-windows, one of which is for Etyms, which you click on if wanted, and if we were to follow that concept, we could list Etym Refs adjacent to the Etyms. The present format has lasted well for over 20 years, but some pages, particularly those where the same spelling is used in many languages, are now of a length never envisaged. I suspect there will be a grand reorganisation in the next 10 years, and hopefully, this will be dealt with then. --Enginear 02:25, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

Over on Wikipedia I have the IPA Reader script installed which reads out IPA pronunciations with a synthetic voice. Is it possible for me to use that on here as well? KaraLG84 (talk) 23:39, 20 April 2025 (UTC)

The code at User:Tech189/common.js works here. Graham87 (talk) 05:34, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

@Graham87 It works for me too. Excellent. KaraLG84 (talk) 12:03, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

Create the namespace. 2804:D4B:9A0D:D200:2169:780F:3070:5273 21:23, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

Why? —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 01:21, 22 April 2025 (UTC)

I accidentally created a page for 最推し, without intending to write the page yet, and I don't know how to remove it. Reizayin (talk) 10:58, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Example: https://en.wiktionary.orghttps://dictious.com/en/huis

I do not want it automatically selecting English, yet when I search huis or any word that has an English result it jumps to English. I dont want that. I want it to sit at the top of the webpage without taking me to English. Or, better yet, to decide which language it redirects me to.

I have tried blocking Redirects in chrome's Site Settings but that did not work. I have checked Preferences and could not find an option for this. I tried using a script that changes the order of the search results but even then it still redirects me to English when it is available as an option.

What do I do? LanguageFrog (talk) 17:27, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

The reason your attempts have not worked is because all the languages are on the same page and each page is written in the same order: Translingual , English , Any other language listed in alphabetical order, so when you ask for the page .../huis, it takes you to the top of the page, and you have to click on the language list on the left of the screen, or scroll down, or even use <ctrl>F to find the one you want. The other-language wikis are similar, but with their language first after Translingual.

The workaround I use makes use of the method wikt (and other Wikimedia projects) uses to jump to particular section headings: adding #, so for example, https://en.wiktionary.orghttps://dictious.com/en/huis#Dutch will take you to the Dutch word (but if you misspell the section heading or it doesn't exist, it takes you to the head of the page anyway).

That also works for parts of speech, and if the internet is slow, I often use that for long entries, to avoid scrolling or navigating with the sidebar, eg https://en.wiktionary.orghttps://dictious.com/en/right#Noun will take you several screens down, to that part of the page (the correct case is essential -- https://en.wiktionary.orghttps://dictious.com/en/right#noun counts as a misspelling and takes you to the top of the page).

Where the section heading is more than one word, you must use an underline rather than a space, eg https://en.wiktionary.orghttps://dictious.com/en/right#Derived_terms. If the same heading is used several times, then this will take you to the first occurrence, but you can override that by adding an underline + the number of the occurrence, so https://en.wiktionary.orghttps://dictious.com/en/huis#Noun or https://en.wiktionary.orghttps://dictious.com/en/huis#Noun_1 will both take you to the first Noun heading, which is the one in the English section, while https://en.wiktionary.orghttps://dictious.com/en/huis#Noun_3 will take you to the third occurrence, which is the one in Dutch.

The same system works in piped wikified references (with the difference that optionally, spaces can be used rather then _s) and they are allowed in some templates, so using what I believe is called a "localised" reference, in the 2nd Derived terms section of rape#Derived terms 2 , clicking on frape takes you to Etymology 2 of "frape". In other templates, such as the headword templates, it is usable with specialised formatting, so in the Noun section of pen test , clicking on pen in the headword line takes you direct to the Etymology 6 section of "pen". Obviously, in a link to a big page, it is much clearer for a user if localised links are used. One trick for ensuring the spelling (and numbering) is correct, is to use the list on the left of the page to navigate to the correct section then, in the address bar, copy the portion of the web address to the right of https://dictious.com/en/ and paste that into the wikilink. --Enginear 05:39, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

On wiktionary.org it automatically selects Japanese as my target search engine. I want to use English.

I have tried disabling Language Detection in Chrome flags, but that did not resolve the issue. LanguageFrog (talk) 17:36, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

There is a simple workaround which usually saves time anyway: rather than going to wiktionary.org, go straight to en.wiktionary.org. That is actually quicker, at least if you have a browser which uses predictive text, since very few website names start with en, and certainly not with en. -- in my case, if I merely type in en, I get a drop down list with Wiktionary and Wikipedia near the top, along with pages I've recently visited on those sites. Even if it doesn't show the Main page on the list (as it seems to for me on Windows 11 but often didn't on Windows 10), just click on the address of any other page on en.wiktionary and then navigate to the one you want. Or if the internet is really slow, type the word you want in place of whatever is shown in the address after https://dictious.com/en/ and go straight to it.

But if you start by typing wik, it is only on the 4th character that you've separated the two projects. --Enginear 05:56, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

Hi, it's me, Equinox. I'm doing a huge alt-text conversion project to make the excellent comic Perry Bible Fellowship readable by the blind. Look at this comic: . I have written: "A nerdy boy with thick glasses and protruding teeth sits sadly on the beach, reading a comic, while in the background a man carries a woman. The boy stares at an advertisement in his comic, depicting a muscular man posing: "The Masculator: bulk up instantly, only 49.95". Soon the boy is leaping up and down in excitement as the mailman delivers his package. But then he cries, with his parents looking on nonplussed, finding that he has purchased a novelty..." Then I got stuck. What are they called? What do you call those things you put parts of your body through, to take a picture? Please help me. love, your favourite southeastern IP, 2A00:23C5:FE1C:3701:94E3:95F1:B408:4E37 10:02, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Photo stand-in 115.188.110.122 10:45, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

Ich möchte wissen, wie man wird einen Admin?

I would like to know how one becomes an admin? DukeofTech (talk) 16:54, 28 April 2025 (UTC)

@DukeofTech: If you have to ask, you're not qualified to be one. It requires a vote, and that means you need to be known and respected by the community here, and you need to know the rules and practices that you would be implementing and enforcing. Chuck Entz (talk) 03:48, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

Thanks. But when does the vote take place? And where? DukeofTech (talk) 15:47, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

See Wiktionary:Votes for the general process. Someone could propose a vote, then set up the page, hold it, and then close it. If the vote passes, a bureaucrat assigns the new user rights. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 15:50, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

Thanks. If it doesn't bother, what's a template? I literally have no idea what it is. DukeofTech (talk) 16:03, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

Templates are parts of this site and other wikis that basically serve two purposes: they either display the same content consistently across multiple pages or they perform some kind of dynamic changing content on a page. See mw:Help:Templates. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 18:56, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

• Well. DOT gets my vote for adminship! Vilipender (talk) 19:59, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

add this definition to pro-shipper: "(adj.) (Law) supportive of shipping". Quotations:

https://books.google.be/books?id=9JCevsWw2vkC&pg=PA105&dq= "say you can be pro-rail and pro-shipper "

https://books.google.be/books?id=tZAdgIjFQpwC&pg=RA1-PA210&dq=%22pro-shipper%22 "Although the legislation currently contains some pro-shipper provisions,"

https://books.google.be/books?id=lf1UEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT176&dq=%22pro-shipper%22 "However, the rules become more pro-shipper "

https://books.google.be/books?id=6nsoAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA439&dq=%22pro-shipper%22 "Are pro-shipper reforms really needed?" Howardcorn33 (talk) 22:52, 30 April 2025 (UTC)

i can't add it myself due to not having access and i'm asking here because the talk page notice said that my request might not be heard there Howardcorn33 (talk) 22:53, 30 April 2025 (UTC)

I'm tempted to do so, in the spirit of {{&lit}} (although in this case it needs to go under a separate etymology header), but I feel it is SOP enough not to warrant inclusion. This, that and the other (talk) 13:08, 7 May 2025 (UTC)

@ 2001:FB1:165:8391:2D5A:F47D:D177:1A7B 10:12, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

@This, that and the other 2001:FB1:165:8391:2D5A:F47D:D177:1A7B 10:13, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

I've been summoned... do you have a message for me? This, that and the other (talk) 13:02, 8 May 2025 (UTC)