Help with the Burmese-English-Burmese (Myanmar) Online Dictionary

Note: If you want to use Unicode fonts you are requested to continue to the new dictionary.


Help with the Burmese-English-Burmese (Myanmar) Online Dictionary

This dictionary is intended for "home-use". It is the work of a non-professional – concerning both programming and linguistics. Please contact me if you find any errors or bugs! (See also About the dictionary)


Instructions

Fill in the search term – words or word-fragments – , choose the search direction and press return or click the "search‟-button. If you submit more than one word, you will receive as well results for every individual word. In the list of the results you will be able to click on words to launch a new search. If your search didn't return any results, we will try to give you a hint for a modified search.
If you see instead of Burmese words only meaningless blocks of Latin letters, then you still have to update your browser or install the right Burmese font.


Words

The available vocabulary is neither big nor of scientific accuracy. Please understand that the translations offered for a word only present a small scope of all possible meanings. Since we combined both directions (Burmese-English and English-Burmese) in one dictionary, you will find together with precise translations also paraphrases where the languages don't provide sufficient congruence. Unlike many printed dictionaries, we often preferred the spoken variant to the formal. We try to standardize, extend and update the database from time to time, but this all depends on volunteering since we don't receive any funding. So please be patient.


Options

"Only exact match" finds only whole words, no parts.

Extending your search on words with "similar Burmese consonants" is useful if you don't know the exact spelling in Burmese.

Searching with "similar English pronunciation" will try to match English terms also by the way they could be pronounced. This feature is provided by a so-called "soundex" function which sometimes is not very precise. This option can be helpful if you're not sure about how to spell the English word and only know how to speak it. Attention: For technical reasons, "Similar English pronunciation" will deactivate "Only exact match".

Tip: click on pronunciation after the search results to be taken to the English pronunciation with many audible examples and further explanatins. This part is provided by Merriam-Webster.

Behind the entries you find an icon depicting a pen. Click here if you think that our translation is not correct or if you want to add something. All suggested changes will be revised before made public. (Again, please count with some time to process them.)


Abbreviations
(this additional information is available only for some words)

(pej.) pejorative - negative meaning, use carefully!
(coll.) colloquial - not written style
(hum.) humorous
(obs.) obsolete - old fashioned, out of use


n. noun
v. verb
a. adjective


Burmese keyboard

Use the virtual keyboard to type Burmese words with your mouse pointer on the screen. You can open it as new window by clicking on "Use virtual keyboard". The Burmese letters will appear in the top left edge while you type. The keys left and right move the cursor to the left or right.


The Burmese font

If you use a browser of the newer generation, the font will load automatically and you won't have to install it. This is a new feature that possibly still has to be fine-tuned.


Compatibile Browsers
Browser Version Font Loads Automatically
Internet Explorer 4.0+ ?
Firefox (Gecko) 3.5+ (1.9.1) OK
Opera 10.0+ OK
Safari (WebKit) 3.1+ (525) OK
(source: Mozilla.org)

If you see instead of Burmese characters some meaningless blocks of letters then you probably have to install the font Wwin_Burmese1 manually on your computer. It can be downloaded here:

Wwin_Burmese1:
go to PC/Mac

After installation, you might have to restart your browser. You can check the installation of the font by starting a word editor, choosing the font Wwin_Burmese1 (which should be available now) and typing some text.


help help to install Wwin_Burmese1

Sources

Most entries were provided by users and volunteers.
Among others we use as reference:

  • The Thalun English-Myanmar Pocket Dictionary
  • The Thalun Myanmar-English Pocket Dictionary
  • The Guide Dictionary: English - English/Myanmar
  • Textbook of Burmese By Ear or Essential Myanmar by J. Okell
  • A Burmese-English Dictionary by Stewart & Dunn
  • and others

    You can buy some dictionaries and language courses (book, audio or software) on these pages: Shop of Burma Center Prague


    Thanks

    I'm obliged to my wife for her helpful advice and her great support to maintain and feed the database!
    A big Thank You goes also to friends and users who submitted new words, and not least for the many encouraging comments, which helped us to continue this service! Thank you in advance for any financial support, no matter how small!


    See also

    go to Burmese Language at "Omniglot"

    go to Printed Burmese dictionaries

    go to Burmese etymology

    go to Burmese English (en.wikipedia)

    go to Learn Burmese in an innovative way with an online coach through Skype (by glovico.org)


    Continue to

    go to go to the dictionary


    contact Contact
    (Please understand that we are only volunteers and cannot reply immediately.)




    This dictionary - software and vocabulary - remains the property of its author. Links to explanations and pronunciation ("balloon" icons): From the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary at www.Merriam-Webster.com.
    The term "Burmese" is preferred to the alternative one "Myanmar" since it makes a better distinction between the names for language and country. Also, the authors feel that official names of countries, language etc. must be legitimized by the people, not by those who are in power for the single reason that they have the guns.