Enhancing Vocabulary on Your Kindle: Tutorial for Adding/Changing Dictionaries

How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

Posted by Jonny Greenwood on 11/19/2018 3:45:14 PM.

One primary reason that I like reading on Kindle is the utterly convenient dictionary feature. To look up the definition of a strange word on Kindle, we just need to press and hold on the word. But sometimes the default dictionary doesn’t work very well especially when it meets some plural nouns or past participle.

Here we are going to introduce how to add or change the Kindle dictionary. German version please refer to Wie man ein Wörterbuch in Kindle ändert oder hinzufügt .

Add Dictionary to Kindle

1 Download the dictionary file to computer

The dictionary for Kindle is actually a .mobi file, which can be downloaded freely from the internet or bought from Amazon Kindle Store. Here I got a Collins Cobuild V3 dictionary file. Yes I like Collins dictionary since my college years.

2 Plug Kindle to computer with USB Cable

Every Kindle user should have a USB cable in the box which is shipped with the device. Find it and use it to connect Kindle and computer. Seconds later there will generate a Removable Disk called “Kindle”. Open it and find “documents\dictionaries” folder.

3 Paste the dictionary file into the “dictionaries” folder

4 Safe eject Kindle and unplug the USB Cable

Now all the steps on computer are finished. The following job is to make the dictionary file work on Kindle.

Click here

### Change the default Kindle dictionary

Different generation of Kindle should be set in different ways. Do it as the list below:

- Kindle 3: Home -> Menu -> Settings -> Menu -> Change Primary Dictionary

- Kindle 4: Home -> Menu -> Settings -> Dictionaries

- Kindle Touch: Home -> Menu -> Settings -> Dictionaries

- Kindle DXG: Home -> Menu -> Settings -> Menu -> Change Primary Dictionary

- Kindle Paperwhite/Kindle Voyage/$79 Kindle: Home -> Menu -> Settings -> Device Options -> Language and Dictionaries -> Dictionaries

- Kindle Oasis: Home -> Menu -> Settings -> Language and Dictionaries -> Dictionaries

As I am using a Kindle Paperwhite at the moment, so I am going to take Kindle Paperwhite for example and introduce the process. And let’s start with the “Dictionaries” screen.

Press the “Dictionaries” option, and we can see the default Kindle dictionary - “Oxford Dictionary of English”.

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By pressing it we can change the primary dictionary of english. As the screen shows below, “Oxford Dictionary of English” is defaultly chosen and we need to switch to “collins3”, which is recently imported by me.

Then back to the previous screen we can see the default dictionary for english has been changed.

Now let’s check the result.

Want to add foreign language dictionary to Kindle?

No problem! And the steps are pretty similar to the above. Suppose I am reading a book written in french, so I need a french-english dictionary.

First we need to download a french to english dictionary file, then transfer to the Kindle dictionary folder. As this is the first french dictionary in my Kindle, I need not to change any settings. The Kindle will choose this file as the primary dictionary for french language.

Then open a french book, press and hold on a word I don’t know the definition, and see what happens.

Related Readings

Jonny Greenwood joined Epubor since 2011, loves everything about eBooks and eReaders. He seeks the methods to read eBooks more freely and wants to share all he has got with you.

SHARING IS GREAT!

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47 Comments

Mr. Depuis

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

10/18/2013 02:22:50

Which french dictionary are you using?

Jonny Greenwood

Re:Mr. Depuis

10/21/2013 02:08:28

I randomply picked on from the internet, and it is not good IMO.

Jane

Re:Mr. Depuis

12/29/2014 16:20:12

Try New Dictionary GALO. It’s a great dictionary.

User

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

12/16/2013 03:14:51

Thank you very much for such clear and useful tips.

Mette

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

01/16/2014 16:57:03

Very helpful. The instructions are clear and concise.

rohan

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

01/20/2014 23:52:32

i accidentally deleted my dictionary folder.
can you send me a email with the dictionary file as an attachment.

Dawid

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

01/27/2014 13:51:05

2 comments in one day might seem a lot but… You kind of made it for me :D

Parry

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

02/6/2014 11:52:49

Jonny

Thanks for the article. Can you point to links where the dictionaries you’ve mentioned can be downloaded?

Jonny

Re:Parry

02/6/2014 19:40:02

Hi Parry,

As the dictionaries are not made by me, and I just used them for writing this article. So I don’t think it would be fine to add the download link here as I do not know if that dictionary is legally free to use.

However, you can search what you want in google, that’s how I found these dictionaries.

Juan

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

03/1/2014 14:50:17

Very useful, really,
but, where can i find the dictionaries in .mobi

Thanks!

Jonny

Re:Juan

03/3/2014 18:42:12

However, you can search what you want in google, that’s how I found these dictionaries.

Patrick

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

05/21/2014 02:43:46

Hi Jonny,
thanks a lot for your great article. Finally, I have managed to make my dictionary work on my Kindle 4.

Dan

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

05/24/2014 23:55:35

When I go to change my dictionary in the settings it isn’t there…. Any possible explanations as to why? :)

Griffy

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

05/31/2014 04:06:31

A free dictionary that is good for the mind. I can’t post the link but search for “jsomers webster 1913”. His blog post tells why, then how.

Griffy

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

05/31/2014 04:10:21

A free dictionary that is good for the mind. I can’t post the link but search for “jsomers webster 1913”. His blog post tells why, then how.

Griffy

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

05/31/2014 04:12:02

A free dictionary that is good for the mind: I can’t post the link but search for “jsomers webster 1913”. His blog post tells why, then how.

J.K. Mertz

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

06/11/2014 21:22:40

Are those dictionaries for free? Somehow I ended up downloading a Portuguese dictionary (not from the Kindle store) and it is now included in my Kindle. Yet, when I went to the Kindle store, that dictionary allegedly costs 9.99 USD. I checked my email and my Amazon account and there are no charges. Any thoughts on that?

Alice

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

06/19/2014 12:38:28

I can’t find how to install this on my kindle, it shows up as a book and I can’t choose the dictionnary in the settings :(Any help ?

Lyn

Re:Alice

08/13/2014 02:56:35

Hi Alice, did you find a solution as I have the same problem.

naz

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

08/13/2014 03:09:45

all this words about obvious how-to-copy-and-paste-files are pretty useless without giving a link to a source where readers can get the dictionaries to do all the stuff author described

Bear

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

12/10/2014 11:30:57

Even if the “dictionary is not legal” there is no problem to post the link. It is not illegal to post a link, you are just showing someone an address, what they do there is up to them. For instance I can post a link to a pornsite which might be illegal for you if you are under 18, but it’s not up to me to determine whether you break the law or not by going there and using the site.

It is the same as saying, oh there is a knife on the ground in this location. If someone else goes to pick up the knife and kill someone, you are not a criminal for murder or even for accessory to murder. You are just giving information, which is not illegal.

If you can use torrents, kickass torrents (kickass.so) is usually a good site to find ebooks as well as music or other files as well.

Benoit

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

01/1/2015 22:43:59

Thaaanks! It works greatly!

Whocaresr

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

01/19/2015 14:47:32

Thank you!

Phil Constable

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

01/22/2015 10:06:31

I want to use the Collins Robert french to English dictionary to save lugging 2000 pages of paper about. So there doesn’t seem to be a way of looking up a specific word, not highlighting a word in a novel, merely looking up the word. Help please

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

02/18/2015 06:23:59

thank you very much, very helpful and very easy. Now I can learn my Spanish!

mike

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

04/11/2015 01:00:48

How to add a dictionary that translated English to another language ? In paperwhite and on android running tablet?

mike

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

04/11/2015 01:00:54

How to add a dictionary that translated English to another language ? In paperwhite and on android running tablet?

mike

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

04/11/2015 01:00:55

How to add a dictionary that translated English to another language ? In paperwhite and on android running tablet?

Reza

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

04/30/2015 13:19:55

Is it possible to add persian dictionary to Kindle?

Thank you

Reza

Epubor

Re:Reza

05/4/2015 20:14:33

Of course, as long as you can get a Persian dictionary.

Tom

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

07/21/2015 12:17:01

“Kindle Paperwhite: Home -> Menu -> Settings -> Device Options -> Language and Dictionaries -> Dictionaries”

Doesn’t work anymore with 5.6.2.1 firmware, it has only one choice even though there are several dictionaries.

Stay away from this last firmware update.

Andrew

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

02/27/2016 09:24:47

I don’t’ve dictionaries folder.

trindflo

Re:Andrew

05/12/2019 03:41:06

If you do not have a dictionaries folder then copy the new dictionary to the documents folder.

Ver_sol

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

03/23/2016 18:43:02

I tried to add german dictionary to Kindle Paperwhite
As it did not schow in the list, I downloaded (I use email with attachment) it 2 more times.
Then I looked in Settings, and now I have 3 or 4 dictionaries sitting there (each 6M).
Can I delete them without computer and cable?
And there is no dictionary folder. ???
Thanks

tanja

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

10/16/2016 19:08:15

Hello,
I have tried everything to add spanish dictionary RAE to my kindle paperwhite device. I even contacted the Amazon support, and they couldn’t help me (because there is no version for kindle on the site, only for Android devices). The thing is, RAE is free for anyone with kindle. I tried also with the RAE dictionaries I found on the web in several extensions and nothing. The device sees it as a book that can be read but not like the dictionary that can be consulted while reading a book in spanish. Any advice? It’s practically useless for me if I have to use spanish-english dictionary, I need monolingual and a very good one like RAE.

Eric

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

10/23/2016 02:57:13

Wow, Easy to understand your instructions and it worked immediately. Have had my Kindle since December 2012 and while the Kindle had access to a dictionary my alternate Kindle reader, being my PC did not work. I do most of my reading on the PC and would have to minimize the Kindle and then look up a word or phrase somewhere else on my PC. This is time consuming and a bit of a hassle.
Have tried a few times to install a dictionary on my PC Kindle but without any success.
Thanks again
Eric

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

01/29/2017 18:30:31

Doesn’t work with my kindle 4th gen now. Appears as a book but not in the list of dictionaries :(Any help appreciated.

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Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

09/18/2017 08:21:31

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Epubor

Re:omega watches

09/20/2017 15:36:06

Thanks for your compliments. We will keep working hard.

Afrah

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

12/17/2017 20:42:18

Hi
Thank you very much for the info. Could you help me please with Arabic dictionary? Amazon doesn’t have one for kindle and I didn’t find any searching the net.
Thank you

oguz ilgar

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

11/27/2019 20:19:44

nice………………….

Ridge

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

07/10/2020 09:58:48

Why are there no links to these dictionaries? This is the weirdest thing I’ve seen. I’ve been unable to find a single free dictionary through an hours worth of searching. Only Amazon has dictionaries and they aren’t free.

Natashua

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

12/9/2020 03:31:18

Just wanted to say thank you for sharing this information. It was clear and helpful.

mcjr

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

02/18/2021 22:35:56

i can’t download the file. Download button is not working. Is is me or the link broken?

Epubor

Re:mcjr

02/19/2021 08:53:44

Thank you for your comments. Can you please let us know which download link is broken so that we can change it?

Nitin

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

05/27/2021 14:42:08

I got an epub file Collins Cobuild. I converted it from epub to mobi. But it didn’t work. Kindle treats it as a book file rather than a dictionary.

Guzman

Re:How to Change or Add Dictionary to Kindle

05/16/2024 05:59:58

Muchas gracias , me ahorraste mucho tiempo buscando cada palabra que no entendiese

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Enhancing Vocabulary on Your Kindle: Tutorial for Adding/Changing Dictionaries