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Tsumugu Encoding Dictionary

Project updated 2026-09-13

A Chinese dictionary. Each character is explained by its form and by a story.

What it is

Tsumugu 記憶辭典 front page: hero "A Chinese dictionary built on form and story", coverage stats (2662 characters and 7001 words), search, and the example entry for 很 with 字源 FORM and 故事 STORY sections.

The Tsumugu Encoding Dictionary is the public encoding dictionary for Tsumugu. It has 9,663 character and word entries and 515 grammar patterns, written for students of Traditional Chinese. Each entry starts with the form and the functional structure. After that come stories, mnemonics, cross-referenced grammar, and explanations and examples written in Chinese. The script tsumugu-ed/scripts/render_site.py generates the site from the private tsumugu-ed content store, which holds one JSON file per entry.

Status

The site was deployed to its custom domain on 2026-06-15. Validation passes: IDs are unique across entries and patterns, and the schema check is clean. After reconciliation, the grammar catalog was reduced to 303 functional points. The previous copy pass fixed walls of text and duplicate English labels. The public copy on the Home and About pages is final. Within the Tsumugu production line, the dictionary is the public asset whose value grows over time. The reader, the wiki, and the engine are kept separate from the dictionary.

Story-card redesign (Modified Method of Loci)

Linked from

Tsumugu Encoding Dictionary deployed to tsumugu-ed.com- Projects page entry: Tsumugu Encoding DictionaryMonetization, reach, and the Hán-Việt web-novel reader- Tsumugu Encoding DictionaryTsumugu Core — graded reader meets AI-generated content- Tsumugu Encoding Dictionary — the reference layer underneath.Ulysses design philosophy → tsumugu-ed- Tsumugu Encoding DictionaryTsumugu Core — the Traditional-first super-app and the Textbook Companion- Tsumugu Encoding Dictionary — the reference layer underneath.
6 more
Story card — first principles and the full possibility space- Tsumugu Encoding Dictionary — the reference layer these cards live in.Tsumugu Story cards — the Modified-Method-of-Loci pivot- Tsumugu Encoding Dictionary — the reference layer these cards live in.Tsumugu Story cards — the technique catalog becomes the rubric's leading layer- Tsumugu Encoding Dictionary — the reference layer these cards live in.The Story-Card CatalogThe operational copy of this catalog lives with the Tsumugu Encoding Dictionary's authoring rubric, where the selecting agent reads it per character. This page stays the living index: add a row when a character arrives that none of the 34 fit.Front-End Web DesignNorman's principles were written before the web and still govern it, as long as the older physical examples are carried over with care. Screens have perceived affordances: a beveled control looks pressable. Screens lack physical hardware. Every interface is a field of affordancesTsumugu- Tsumugu Ed: an encoding dictionary, with a page for each Chinese character built on its form and a story