Wiktionary:Feedback

This page is for collecting feedback from Wiktionary readers. It should be cleaned out on a three-month basis, as new comments are constantly being added. Feel free to reply to and discuss comments here, though bear in mind that the people who leave the feedback may never come back to read replies. By convention, the feedback is not archived.

Links: Wiki Javascript (for adding to your WMF Wiki.)

Frequently asked questions

Do you have general questions about the Wiktionary? See Help:FAQ.

• Q. X isn’t a real word! Why do you have an entry for it?
• A. Like most dictionaries, Wiktionary describes and records how people use languages, and does not try to prescribe what is supposedly right or wrong. In some cases, labels are added to warn people that certain usages may be regarded as, for example, derogatory to some people or regarded by some people as proscribed (generally recommended not to be used). If you really feel that an entry should not in Wiktionary, discuss the matter with other editors at Wiktionary:Tea room. Alternatively, if you have done a search at websites such as Google Books and the Internet Archive and cannot find uses of the term, you can request for the entry to be verified at Wiktionary:Requests for verification (see that page for instructions).

• Q. Why don’t you provide audio files giving the pronunciations of all entries?
• A. The recording of audio files requires volunteer editors who have the right equipment and software, and who know how to upload these files to the Wikimedia Commons. All this is somewhat time-consuming, and it seems that at the moment we simply don’t have editors who are able to do this for us regularly. We suggest that you learn how to read the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions of pronunciations. For English entries, you can visit Appendix:English pronunciation, which you can also reach by clicking on the “(key)” link next to the word IPA on entry pages.

• Q. How do I propose that a Wiktionary for another language be started?
• A. See incubator:Help:Manual.

For questions about the Word of the Day, see Wiktionary:Word of the day/FAQ.

November 2025

Wiktionary:Shughni_transliteration

Hello, I would like to request an update to the current transliteration system used for the Shughni language. The transliteration in this module does not match the system used on the Shughni Wikipedia Incubator. For consistency across Wikimedia projects, could you please change the transliteration to the one used at Wp/sgh?

Thank you very much! ~2025-33870-50 (talk) 05:08, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

I suggest that you repost this at "Wiktionary:Beer parlour" for discussion. — Sgconlaw (talk) 20:01, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Wiktionary:Community_Portal

thank you very much for this treasure of the human race

Wernicke

Please get visual editing here too, like Wikipedia.

December 2025

Malagasy Wiktionary mostly bot generated?

Among the largest languages in Wiktionary, next to English, Chinese etc. is also Malagasy. How!?

Comparison:
English: 5000 active users (77 admins) => 8.6M pages
German: 400 active users (12 admins) => 1.2M pages
Malagasy: 77 active users (2 admins) => 5.8M pages!

Appearently, most of these 6M pages are bot generated by auto-translating English & French entries. If you click on "Pejy kisendra" (Random page), there's a 70% chance you get a page looking more or less like this (in Malagasy, of course):

Spanish - Verb form
rumiaban
third-person plural imperfect indicative of the verb rumiar
This page was translated from the English Wiktionary page rumiaban.

or

French - Verb form
désémigrassiez
second-person plural imperfect subjunctive of the verb désémigrer
This page was translated from the French Wiktionary page désémigrassiez.

BTW, similar thing happened to Malagasy Wikipedia. Someone took a database with location data for (my estimate) 70.000 towns worldwide and template-generated a stub article for each. Now, if you click on "Takelaka kisendra" (Random Article) you have a 70% chance to get precise geographic coordinates for a town you've never heard of in your life. Like Caraúbas (5°47′33″S 37°33′24″W / 5.792500°S 37.556670°W).

~2025-38344-46 (talk) 15:01, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

@~2025-38344-46: Yes, this is well-known. A combination of one very dedicated hobbyist (User:Jagwar) who is the admin and runs the bot, and a lack of others interested or knowledgeable in the language. This has been discussed 5 years ago on Requests_for_comment/Large-scale_errors_at_Malagasy_Wiktionary on Wikimedia Meta-wiki.Wikimedia Meta-wiki Vuccala (talk) 01:05, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

likame

The lemma says:

For the development of the sequence /k.h/ into either /k/ or /x/, compare Michel (“Michael”).

But the lemma Michel does not describe the development of /kh/ at all. It only demonstrates that the Middle English word had various pronunciations based on where the word came from (Old English, French or Latin).

Is the link target wrong?

~2025-39216-62 (talk) 20:16, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

@Hazarasp, you wrote the lemma text so maybe you could explain a bit?

~2025-40045-71 (talk) 19:32, 11 December 2025 (UTC)

The Middle English entry at Michel was created some time ago and doesn't necessarily represent my current thinking. In writing the text at likame, my assumption was that either Old English Michael had a spelling pronunciation of sorts where ⟨ch⟩ was taken to represent two consonants or that syncope occurred in the alternative form Michahel, creating a sequence [k.h], which then evolved into either /k/ or /x/ like with likame. However, I'll soften the language somewhat since there are several weaknesses with this assumption (for instance, forms with /x/ seem to be more widespread for Michel than with likame). Hazarasp (parlement · werkis) 02:46, 12 December 2025 (UTC)

Wiktionary:Main_Page

Please change the name of "Serbo-Croatian" and split it into "Serbian" and "Croatian." These are agreed upon to be two separate languages, and in fact, so many words are different that almost every single dictionary entry under Serbo-Croatian has a different word that is "chiefly" used in Serbia or "chiefly" used in Croatia. This is because they are obviously two different languages! Use logic please! Just change it. ~2025-40031-55 (talk) 23:29, 11 December 2025 (UTC)

συνίημι

Please edit table subtitle for the Aorist to indicate this is Koine. I would make the proposed edit but I don't know how.

appearance settings

At least when i'm not logged in, the apparance settings don't stick and get reset every few days. It'd be nice if they stuck, or failing that, if they stayed set much longer than they do, or at the very least, if the color defaulted to "automatic". DancesWithPeons (talk) 00:22, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

extenuate: Quotations mangled

I'm trying to figure out why the quotations which were added correctly by humans got replaced with incorrect OCR versions at some point. For example, back in 2012 User:CopperKettle added a well selected quote from Shakespeare's Ado which said:

1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4 Scene 1

CLAUDIO. I know what you would say: if I have known her,

You'll say she did embrace me as a husband,

And so extenuate the forehand sin: No, Leonato,

I never tempted her with word too large;

But, as a brother to his sister, show'd

Bashful sincerity and comely love.

But the current version is a travesty, replacing "W" with "VV" and adding other distractions:

1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

I knovv vvhat you vvould ſay: if I haue knovvne her, / You vvill ſay, ſhe did imbrace me as a husband, / And ſo extenuate the forehand ſinne: No, Leonato, / I never tempted her vvith vvord too large; / But as a brother to his ſiſter, ſhevved / Baſhful ſinceritie, and comelie loue.

No human would have made such mistakes, so I assume it was a rogue bot. It would be good to identify it and revert all of its edits.

Hackerb9 (talk) 07:57, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

@Hackerb9: Strange as it may seem, that's the way they were spelled in the original editions. Back then, "u" and "v" were interchangeable, and double-u was literally spelled with two "u"s. The "long s", "ſ", was still in use. Modern editions replace them with the modern equivalents and it's debatable whether these quotes should be so authentic that modern readers have trouble deciphering them- but they're quite accurate. Chuck Entz (talk) 13:57, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Wiktionary:Main_Page

Unlike on Wikpedia, the "hide" button on the Main Menu resets each time the page is refreshed. This is very annoying as it shifts the actually useful part of the sidebar down and forces me to scroll or re-hide the menu each time. Please save this setting via browser cookie. Thank you. ~2025-41070-53 (talk) 20:44, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

i love wiktionary

this is amazing!!! i love wiktionary (i normally edit on wp)

January 2026

suggestion: page lead

compared to wikipedia, i don't think wiktionary is accessible/intuitive enough. it should have a lead section like wikipedia, which would, e.g., include the word, the ipa pronunciation (and possibly pronunciation spelling), the (short) definition(s), and the etymology/history of its usage. repeat these things in another paragraph if there are homonyms of the word (i.e. identically-spelled words with a different pronunciations and/or etymologies) LGaps (talk) 20:07, 8 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm a little confused by this request, since what you suggested seems consistent with what we already do. See WT:EL for more on how entries are laid out. Can you give an example of an entry that you find inaccessible/unintuitive? —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 20:35, 8 January 2026 (UTC)

seemingly every entry there is: e.g. book, chair, key, etc. i'm proposing an introductory lead section at the top that would summarize the page (since this is the English wiktionary, with an English focus), something like so:

{Word} (pronunciation: {pronunciation}) is a {language} {word class}. It primarily means {definition}. It originates from {etymology}.

an example using book:

Book (IPA: /bʊk/) is an English noun. It primarily means, "a collection of sheets of paper bound together to hinge at one edge, containing printed or written material, pictures, etc.". It originates from the Old English bōc.

It is also an English verb. It primarily means, "to reserve (something) for future use". It originates from the Old English bōcian.

this is imperfectly phrased, but you get the point. LGaps (talk) 17:50, 9 January 2026 (UTC)

I don't think that I do. You're suggesting that we take our definition entries and then summarize them? Definitions are already pretty short and I think readable if you are looking to find a specific piece of information. Repeating a definition multiple times seems like more clutter to me. Maybe you can make an example in your user space? If you made User:LGaps/sandbox and showed us an entry that you would like to see formatted in this manner that may make it more clear, but I think this is a non-starter. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 18:54, 9 January 2026 (UTC)

I don’t think you’re familiar with how a dictionary is structured. What you’re proposing is the structure used in an encyclopedia, which is why Wikipedia uses it. — Polomo ⟨⁠ ⁠oi!⁠ ⁠⟩ · 19:07, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

suicide

Hello, "suicide" (verb) seems to be merely an american usage in english " (Dictionary of Americanisms, 2nd ed. enlarged Par John Russell Bartlett · 1877 p.679) — This unsigned comment was added by Bigmcarony (talk • contribs).

Thanks. I'll add this to the talk page and it could be added to the entry. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 20:03, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

@Bigmcaronyand @Koavf as a speaker of a non-American dialect of English, I would dispute that suicide as a verb is "merely American". I'm only one data point, but equally I don't think a book from the 19th century can be used to say this about 21st century English. Arafsymudwr (talk) 10:50, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Good to know. As an ignorant American, I learn something new every day. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 10:52, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Wiktionary app like that of Wikipedia

Wikipedia app is great, would like to see one for Wiktionary as well.

Currently using Aard2, but it requires downloading heavy offline databases separately, which is also outdated (not live).

~2026-28538-7 (talk) 09:25, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Why/how would that be better than using Firefox? —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 09:38, 14 January 2026 (UTC)