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Apte, The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary (AP90)

Vaman Shivram Apte's Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary is the classical reader's companion to Monier-Williams: cleaner sense-numbering, generous idioms and compounds, and literary quotations with translations. AP90 is the revised and enlarged 1890 edition (1196 pp). Glosses are in English.

At a glance​

CodeAP90 (GitHub repo AP90)
Full titleThe Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary (revised & enlarged)
AuthorVaman Shivram Apte
Year / size1890 · ~1196 pages
DirectionSanskrit → English
AccentsNo
Sourcecsl-orig/v02/ap90/
OpenBasic · List · Advanced · Mobile
DataDownloads · Scans
csl-docap90.rst (front matter / preface)
Which Apte?

The catalog lists more than one Apte. AP90 is the 1890 Sanskrit→English edition used here. AE (repo ApteES) is Apte's English→Sanskrit dictionary — the reverse direction. Pick AP90 to read Sanskrit, AE to compose it.

When to use it​

Reach for Apte for classical (non-Vedic) reading: sense divisions are clearly numbered, idiomatic phrases are spelled out, and quotations from kāvya and the epics are given with translations. Complements:

  • Monier-Williams (MW) — broader, more encyclopaedic, marks Vedic accents.
  • Böhtlingk-Roth (PWG) — the deepest scholarly treatment (in German).
  • Apte also carries appendices (significant proper names, geography, and a collection of verses/quotations) beyond the main A–Z text.

Looking up a word​

Open the Basic display, pick input/output transliteration (see Encoding & Transliteration), and type the headword:

AP90 Basic display: an Apte entry with numbered senses and a quotation

The List and Advanced displays browse and search inside entries — see Search & Display.

Reading an entry​

Apte sets Sanskrit in {#…#}, bold in {@…@}, italic in {%…%}, and tags literary sources with <ls>. The entry aṛṇin "free from debt" (csl-orig/v02/ap90/ap90.txt):

<L>2<pc>0001-c<k1>afRin<k2>afRin
{#afRin#}¦ {%<ab>a.</ab>%} ({#f#} being regarded as a consonant) Not a debtor, free from
debt; {#divasasyAzwame BAge SAkaM pacati yo naraH . afRI cApravAsI ca sa vAricara modate ..#}
<ls>Mb.</ls> The form {#anfRin#} also occurs in this sense.
<LEND>
In the sourceMeaning
<pc>0001-cpage-column reference (p. 1, col. c)
{#afRin#}headword / Sanskrit, in SLP1
{%<ab>a.</ab>%}the grammatical label (adjective), italicised
<ls>Mb.</ls>a literary-source citation (Mahābhārata), the link target

See Data Formats for the full markup reference.

What makes it distinctive​

  • Built for reading classical texts. Numbered senses, idioms, and translated quotations.
  • Appendices. Proper names, geographical names, and a verse/quotation collection.
  • Pairs with AE. Apte's English→Sanskrit dictionary covers the other direction for composition.

See also​