irondict is a desktop dictionary app written in Rust. It loads StarDict dictionaries and gives you instant fuzzy and prefix search over their headwords across all of them at once. The same lookup engine powers two front-ends — a native GUI and a CLI — so you can search from your desktop or your terminal.
The public-domain GCIDE dictionary is bundled, so it works out of the box. Add your own StarDict files, or download monolingual Wiktionary dictionaries for several languages directly from the app.
- Two front-ends, one engine — a native Slint GUI and a clap-based CLI share the same core lookup library.
- Fuzzy, prefix & exact headword search across every enabled dictionary at once.
- Downloadable dictionaries — install monolingual Wiktionary editions for eight languages from a built-in catalog, or add any StarDict file you own.
- Clickable cross-references — follow links between entries in the GUI.
- Verb conjugation — full conjugation tables for French, Italian and English
in both front-ends (CLI
conjugate, GUI panel). The French and Italian tables install automatically alongside their Wiktionary dictionary; English ships built in. - Albert launcher integration — search your dictionaries from the Albert launcher and jump straight to a definition.
- Bundled GCIDE dictionary, so it works out of the box.
- System theme aware (light/dark via the XDG desktop portal).
Build from source with a recent stable Rust toolchain:
git clone https://github.com/DrPandemic/irondict
cd irondict
cargo build --releaseThe single binary lands at target/release/irondict. It serves both front-ends:
run a subcommand for the CLI, or pass --gui to launch the graphical interface.
cargo run --release -p irondict -- --gui# Look up a word across all enabled dictionaries
irondict lookup serendipity
# Search headwords (prefix by default; pass --mode fuzzy for typo tolerance)
irondict search serendipity
# Conjugate a verb — French, Italian or English (language auto-detected)
irondict conjugate manger
irondict conjugate mangiare --lang it
# Download dictionaries from the built-in catalog
irondict catalog # list what's available
irondict install fr-fr # download and install by id
irondict uninstall fr-fr # remove it (files + registration)
# Manage dictionaries
irondict add /path/to/dictionary.ifo
irondict list
irondict enable "Dictionary Name"
irondict disable "Dictionary Name"
irondict remove "Dictionary Name"In the GUI, the same actions live under Settings → Downloads (download, install, delete) and Settings → Dictionaries (add, enable, remove).
irondict ships a Albert plugin
(packaging/albert) so you can search your dictionaries
from the launcher: type a trigger followed by a word to list matching headwords,
and hit Enter to open the irondict GUI straight to that definition (Alt+Enter
copies the word instead).
It registers a general d handler that searches every dictionary, plus one per
language-pinned dictionary keyed by its language code (de English, df
French, di Italian by default) — all rebindable under Albert's Triggers
settings. Each handler can be switched to fuzzy matching independently.
Install (needs Albert with the Python plugin and irondict on $PATH):
cp -r packaging/albert/irondict ~/.local/share/albert/python/plugins/Then enable Python → IronDict in Albert's settings. See
packaging/albert/README.md for details.
Dictionaries and preferences are stored in ~/.config/irondict/config.toml, and
downloaded dictionaries under ~/.local/share/irondict/dictionaries/. The search
index is cached under ~/.cache/irondict/ and rebuilt automatically when the
dictionary set changes.
Downloaded dictionaries come from two places: the monolingual editions published by xxyzz/wiktionary_stardict, and the Italian dictionary plus the French and Italian conjugation companions, which I build from kaikki.org Wiktextract data and publish in my own DrPandemic/wikitionary-dictionaries repository. Both, being derived from Wiktionary, are licensed CC BY-SA.
The bundled English irregular-verb table used for conjugation is likewise derived from the English Wiktionary "English irregular verbs" category (via kaikki.org / wiktextract) and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 — © Wiktionary contributors.