An offline Wiktionary dictionary on Windows

Wiktionary is one of the editions offered in Wonder by Zaweba's Library, so you can have it as an offline dictionary on Windows. Open File, then Library, choose Wiktionary from the editions Kiwix offers, and download it once. After that, every entry opens with no internet, and the search box suggests words as you type.

Wonder is free software, an offline reader for Wikipedia and its sister projects. Wiktionary is the free dictionary from the same family as Wikipedia, written by volunteers, and Kiwix packages it as a downloadable edition that Wonder can read.

Getting Wiktionary onto your PC

In File, then Library, Wonder lists the editions already on this PC, any downloads in progress and the editions on offer. The list of what Kiwix offers is only fetched when you press Show what Kiwix offers, and each edition is shown with its size, date and article count before anything downloads. That makes it easy to see how much room Wiktionary needs before committing.

Downloads come only from Kiwix's servers and mirrors. They show speed and time left, can be paused, survive closing Wonder and resume where they stopped. Free space is checked first, and the finished file is verified against Kiwix's SHA-256. The download folder starts in your local app data and can be changed, which helps if your main drive is small.

Looking words up

A dictionary lives or dies by how quickly you can find a word. Wonder's title suggestions come straight from the edition's title index as you type, with no index to build first, so they work the moment Wiktionary is open. Press Enter on an exact title and it opens, with redirects followed and any capitalisation accepted.

If you press Enter on something that isn't a title, Wonder searches inside the entries instead. That uses a full-text index it builds in the background the first time, and for a dictionary-sized edition the wait is short.

Reading entries comfortably

Entries appear in the same clean reading view as Wikipedia articles, with light, dark or sepia themes and text size on Ctrl+plus, Ctrl+minus and Ctrl+0. Every entry ends with its CC BY-SA 4.0 attribution, the edition and a link to the original and its history.

For words you look up often, bookmark them with Ctrl+D. Ctrl+Shift+D adds an entry to Read later, and Ctrl+H shows your history. These lists are kept per edition, so your Wiktionary bookmarks don't get mixed up with your Wikipedia ones.

Switching between dictionary and encyclopedia

Many people keep Wiktionary next to a Wikipedia edition. The dictionary tells you what a word means and where it comes from, and the encyclopedia tells you about the thing itself. Both live in the Library, and you can move between them whenever you like.

If you already have a Wiktionary .zim file from Kiwix, there's no need to download it again. Press Ctrl+O and open it directly. Wonder has its own reader for the ZIM format and opens even very large files almost at once.

Who it suits

An offline dictionary is handy in more places than you might think: a laptop on a train, a study room with the Wi-Fi off to cut distractions, a home with a slow or costly connection, or a classroom PC where browsing is limited. Writers and students can look things up without opening a web browser and losing half an hour.

Download it once, and Wonder by Zaweba turns Wiktionary into a dictionary that's always there, connection or not.