Best On-Line Dictionaries

cosmasad

Member
I don't know if I have asked this before but what do people recommend as the "best" on-line dictionary to translate from Greek to English and vice - versa? I'm looking for a good one for the computer and one for my cell phone.

I'm sure that this is subjective but I'm asking this in case there is one that stands out from the rest and that everyone agrees on:)

Thank you!
 

eriomys

New member
Depends on your level of Greek and English.

For C1 and above, I'd really recommend to order the Greek - English dictionary by Stavropoulos. The English - Greek version is also fine but it has less entries. Unfortunately all those years the publisher has not released a digital version, not even a CD-ROM during the 90s-2000s. Majority of Greek learners learned English via this dictionary. Though some phrases are outdated and it has some grammar errors too. But usefull if you are interested in translating older texts.

Wordreference has many inaccuracies and omissions unfortunately, which can matter for more complex translations.
But on the other hand it is better for newer words and slang.

eg institution is translated just as ίδρυμα, θεσμός at wr, while the hardcover dictionary includes also θέσπιση, καθιέρωση, ίδρυση, παράδοση.
 

nickel

Administrator
Staff member
Cosmasad is in fact looking for an online Greek-English dictionary, and there aren't many of those around. The Oxford dictionary by Stavropoulos comes only in printed form, while the 2008 Korais Greek-English dictionary came with a CD (which I often use to this day), but is unfortunately out of print.

I was not aware of the Paroutsas.gr dictionary. It's not bilingual and for a monolingual dictionary I would stick to the online dictionary published by the Academy https://christikolexiko.academyofathens.gr/index.php# (plus the Patakis dictionary, Babiniotis and ΛΚΝ).
 

eriomys

New member
No Greek dictionary is perfect, not even Stavropoulos, especially when translating from English to Greek. We do not have such a big volume like for example with Oxford-Duden or Oxford-Hachette that cover most examples. French and German to Greek dictionaries are even worse. While Greek to English is much better and it has words missing in the English to Greek dictionary.

For English to Greek, best solution is to look up the trustworthy online English dictionaries (both UK and USA) and then try to find the closest word according to your interpretation in Greek or a similar word. Though there are great differences between Webster and Cambridge for example. Even Wordreference that is much more often updated, is missing many phrases and words. This requires a good level of Greek and English, above C1.
 
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