This is a dictionary of single characters which almost does the job of a dictionary of compounds. It gives the student of the Chinese language translations which translate and do not merely explain, and it offers the linguistic scholar a faithful record of current spoken Mandarin.

A comprehensive introduction on pronunciation, the system of radicals, and grammatical categories precedes the main body of the dictionary, which is arranged by radicals. An index, arranged by sounds, is included. Significant points of dialectal pronunciation, especially in Cantonese and the Wu dialects, are indicated for comparison. Neutral tones in compounds and sentences are marked throughout. The main features of dialectal pronunciation are given for each word where they differ from Mandarin.

Selection of characters is based upon authoritative frequency lists and long teaching experience. They appear in regular form, but differences between written and printed forms, together with important popular cursive variations, are also indicated. Warnings and cross-references are given to characters which are easy to confuse or hard to locate. Both National romanization and the Wade-Giles forms are given side by side. This is the first dictionary to give a full extended treatment of all the grammatical particles. The grammatical function of each word is clearly defined, and the stylistic class of each entry is either marked or implied in the translation which corresponds in style to the word translated. Important derivative words (for example, words with diminutive suffixes) and contextual words (including common synonyms and antonyms) are supplied and compared.