Macdonell, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (MD)
MD is Arthur Anthony Macdonell's A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1893) — a compact
student's dictionary, concise and accented, long valued as a learner's companion for
reading classical and Vedic texts. Glosses are in English.
At a glance
| Code | MD (GitHub repo MD) |
| Full title | A Sanskrit-English Dictionary |
| Author | Arthur A. Macdonell |
| Year / size | 1893 · ~384 pages |
| Direction | Sanskrit → English |
| Accents | Yes (marked on headwords) |
| Source | csl-orig/v02/md/ |
| Open | Basic · List · Advanced · Mobile |
| Data | Downloads · Scans |
| csl-doc | md.rst |
When to use it
Reach for MD as a quick, accented student dictionary — short definitions, the accent
shown, ideal while reading. For fuller coverage use Monier-Williams (MW) or
Apte (AP90); Macdonell is the lighter companion (the author also wrote the standard
Vedic Grammar for Students).
Looking up a word
Open the Basic display, pick your input/output transliteration (see Encoding & Transliteration), and type the headword. The List and Advanced displays browse and search inside entries — see Search & Display.
Reading an entry
Macdonell gives the SLP1 headword in {#…#} then the accented IAST form, tags grammar with
<lex> and abbreviations with <ab>, and marks sub-points with a bullet. The entry aṃśa
(csl-orig/v02/md/md.txt):
<L>3<pc>001-1<k1>aMSa<k2>aMSa
{#aMSa#}¦ áṃśa, <lex>m.</lex> part, share; <ab>N.</ab> {%of a god%}: <ab>in.</ab> 🞄partly.
| In the source | Meaning |
|---|---|
<pc>001-1 | page-column reference (p. 1, col. 1) |
{#aMSa#} · áṃśa | the headword (SLP1 search key <k1>) then its accented IAST form (áṃśa) |
<lex>m.</lex> | grammatical category (masculine) |
part, share · <ab>N.</ab> of a god | the English glosses |
<ab>in.</ab> 🞄partly | a noted form — the instrumental aṃśena "partly" |
See Data Formats for the markup reference.
What makes it distinctive
- Compact and accented. A student's dictionary that shows the Vedic accent on every headword.
- Reading companion. Pairs naturally with Macdonell's grammars; terse, fast to consult.
Headword key conventions
<k1> = <k2> = SLP1 stem (accent-stripped). However, the entry body immediately follows with the accented IAST form as free text — visible in the rendered entry but not in the searchable key.
| Convention | Marker / form | Example | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search key | SLP1, no accent | aMSa | k1 = k2 |
| Accented body form | Free IAST text with udātta | áṃśa, immediately after {#aMSa#}¦ | The printed form with accent; not in <k1> |
| Grammar | <lex>m.</lex> | standard tag | Grammatical category |
| Page reference | <pc>page-col | <pc>001-1 = p. 1, col. 1 | Two-column layout |
Abbreviations
Abbreviations 185
Show first 60 of 185 abbreviations
| Ā. | Ātmanepada. |
| A. D. | Anno Domini |
| a. | adjective. |
| ab. | ablative. |
| abs. | absolute. |
| abst. | abstract. |
| abst. N. | abstract noun. |
| ac. | accusative. |
| act. | active. |
| ad. | adverb, -ial, -ially. |
| aor. | aorist. |
| app. | apposition. |
| ass. | asseverative. |
| athg. | anything. |
| AV. | Atharva-veda. |
| B. | Buddhistic term. |
| bg. | beginning. |
| beg. | beginning. |
| Br. | Brāhmaṇa. |
| C. | Classical (post-Vedic) Sanskrit. |
| cj. | conjunction. |
| col. | collective, -ly. |
| coll. | collective, -ly. |
| comm. | commentator. |
| conj. | conjecture. |
| cor. | correlative. |
| cp. | compare. |
| cpd. | compound. |
| cpv. | comparative. |
| crt. | certain. |
| cs. | causal. |
| d. | dative. |
| dbl. | double. |
| den. | denominative. |
| der. | derivative. |
| des. | desiderative. |
| dim. | diminutive. |
| dr. | dramatic term. |
| du. | dual. |
| E. | Epic. |
| e. g. | for example. |
| emp. | emphatic. |
| enc. | enclitic. |
| encl. | enclitic. |
| Eng. | English. |
| ep. | epithet. |
| eq. | equivalent. |
| esp. | especially. |
| exc. | except, exceptionally. |
| excl. | exclamation. |
| exp. | explanation. |
| f. | feminine; also = for. |
| ff. | and the following. |
| fig. | figurative, -ly. |
| fp. | future participle passive. |
| fr. | from. |
| ft. | future. |
| g. | genitive. |
| gd. | gerund (indeclinable participle). |
| Gk. | Greek. |
+ 125 more — see the full list in the source file
See also
- Monier-Williams (MW) · Apte (AP90) — fuller references
- The full catalog of all 43 dictionaries
- csl-doc md.rst