Wiktionary: Template

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Introduction

In our jargon an "article" or "page" contains every piece of dictionary information that directly relates to a given sequence of letters. The same sequence of letters can refer to different words in different languages, or to distinct morphemes in the same language, each with a different etymology and meaning. This can make the rules about organization somewhat complex, but should result in articles that are relatively easy to read.

A very simple (copyable) template

This shows the most fundamental elements of an article: its language, the part of speech, the word itself, and at least one definition.

==English==
===Noun===
'''X'''
# X

See the Community Portal for more guidance on writing content.

Examples of properly formatted articles

These articles are not necessarily complete, but they are properly formatted and are good examples of proper style. (If you notice a conflict between these articles and the stated guidelines, please fix the articles or discuss changing the guidelines.)

Simple cases

Let's say "hrunk" is a word in both English and German, with multiple senses in English. A very basic article will be organized like this:

English
 Etymology
  -> Explanation of how the English forms arose.
 Noun
  -> Spelling example
  -> Text of first English noun definition.
  -> Text of second English noun definition.
 Verb
  -> Spelling example
  -> Text of first English verb definition.
German
 Etymology
  -> Explanation of how the German forms arose.
 Verb
  -> Text of first German verb definition.
 External links

We might translate this organizational plan into Wiktionary syntax like this:

==English==
===Etymology===
From the Latin [[hrunkus]], to hrunk with vigor.
===Noun===
'''hrunk''' (plural: ''hrunkae'')
# A person who furps.
===Verb===
'''hrunk'''
# To flrink with cumplus.
# To furp.
==German==
===Etymology===
From the name of an obscure politician, [[w:Hans Hrunk]].
===Adjective===
'''hrunk'''
# Glinky.
===External links===
*[[w:Hans Hrunk|Wikipedia article on Hans Hrunk]].

If there's only one language, one part of speech, or only one sense, you should still follow this general pattern. Other people may come by later and add more.

If you don't know the etymology, you can skip it; in this case, don't leave an "Etymology" header for an empty section.

Note how everything that has to do only with German is "under" the German header in the organizational tree.

Note that top-level headers get two =='s in wiki syntax, second-level headers get three (e.g. ===Third level header===), and so on as far as necessary.

Language

Should be capitalized (that's a rule of English spelling).
Should be the full form ISO name of that language. The two-letter ISO codes for languages are not always obvious to readers.
Should not be a link.

Etymology

Language names should be capitalized (that's a rule of English spelling). Words that should have their own entries (including those in foreign languages) should be made into links. Italicize words in foreign languages.

Part of speech

In identifying the part of speech of an entry, use one of the following (but note that this list is incomplete):

Article (example: the)
Abbreviation (Penn.), Acronym (NATO; pronounced as a word), Initialism (NRA; pronounced as individual letters)
Adjective (quick)
Adverb (quickly)
Conjunction: Coordinating conjunction (and), Subordinating conjunction (because)
Interjection (wow)
Measure word or Counter (used in Asian languages; see Measure word)
Noun: Count noun (dollar), Mass noun (money)
Number: Cardinal number (twelve), Ordinal number (twelfth)
Particle (used especially in Asian languages)
Preposition (from) or Postposition (used in some languages)
Proper noun (Microsoft)
Pronoun: Personal pronoun (we), Demonstrative pronoun (this), Possessive pronoun (my)
Verb: Transitive verb (to kill), Intransitive verb (to die), Reflexive verb (to awake), Auxiliary verb (shall), Copula (to be; typically used in non-English languages)

Inflections and standard forms

These immediately follow the part of speech, and are without bullet or indentation.

A bolded example to show normal capitalization.
Inflections if any, particularly if these are irregular, or prone to other uncertainties auch as whether consonants should be doubled. See the reference page on English inflections to find out what "regular" inflections are. For words in some foreign languages this may be a small table.
Verb examples should be in the infinitive ("to ____", e.g. "to walk") unless this is an article about an inflected form (in which case, provide a link to the infinitive form).
For adjectives, give the comparative and superlative forms (when applicable), especially if they are irregular.

Definitions

These are listed, and soft numbered in an order that takes into account the age and frequency of the usage. Some usages derive from other; and this makes it impossible to firmly prescribe the order in which these should be shown.
An inflection or spelling variant is adequately defined by so indicating. Thus "(past participle) of ...", or "variant spelling of ... as the case may be.

Quotations, example sentences

For clarity, a sentence, preferably an identified quote, demonstrating proper usage can be included, indented. The key term should be in bold to make it stand out in the sentence. See also Wiktionary:Quotations

External links

This is a good place to put Wikipedia links. Note that in the fictional example above, [[w:Hans Hrunk]] demonstrates how to link to Wikipedia articles, which you should do if a directly relevant one exists.

Homographs

Sometimes two morphemes end up in the same article because they are spelled the same (they are homographs). These may have different etymologies and different pronunciations. In this case, you will need to do something like this example (which again uses the fictional word "hrunk"):

English
 hrunk(1)
  Etymology
  Pronunciation
  Noun
 hrunk(2)
  Etymology
  Pronunciation
  Noun
  Verb

Additional headers

There are some additional headers which you should include if possible, but if you don't have the necessary expertise or the time to bother, it's OK to skip them. There are other headers which some words need because they are weird.

A typical article that uses many of these additional headers might be organized like this:

English
 Alternate spellings
 Etymology
 Pronunciation
  Homophones
 Noun
  -> Spelling example
  -> Text of first English noun definition.
  Quotations
   -> Text of quotation using the English noun form properly
  Synonyms
  Antonyms
  Translations
  Derived terms
  Related terms
  Homonyms
  See also
  References
 Verb
  -> Spelling example
  -> Text of first English verb definition.
  Quotations
   -> Text of quotation using the English verb form properly
  Translations
Finnish
 Etymology
 Pronunciation
 Noun
  -> Spelling example
  -> Text of first Finnish noun definition.

Generally, a quotation should apply only to the noun form or only to the verb form, etc. So the "Quotation" should be a part of the "Noun" section, not a "sibling". Likewise for "Translations", "Synonyms", "Antonyms", and perhaps others.

Pronunciation

The pronunciation should be laid out like the following:

Portmanteau
*(UK) [[Pronunciation guide|SAMPA]]:/pO:t'm{nt@u/
*[[Pronunciation guide|IPA]]:/p\x{0254}:t'mant\x{0259}\x{028A}/

The country [(UK), (US), (AUS), et al] is first if there is national variation, followed by the pronunciation system, (SAMPA or IPA), a colon and then the pronunciation between the slashes. Don't forget to make the system name a link to the pronunciation guide.

Eventually, every entry should have a pronunciation section, and perhaps a sound sample to accompany it. However, non-linguists often have trouble writing down pronunciations properly, so it's OK to skip this section when you are creating or otherwise improving an article.

Synonyms

List words that have the same meanings as the word being defined.

Where several definitions of the English word exist, synonyms should be given (where these exist) as a separate list for each meaning. The following approach is recommended:

Summarise the definition for which synonyms are being given, putting it in italics between parentheses, followed by a colon.
List the synonyms for this definition, in alphabetical order and separated by commas, wikifying each synonym.
Use one line for each synonym, beginning each line with a bullet.

The synonyms section for "hrunk" might look like this (the synonyms are also made up):

(flrink with cumplus): flrink, pigglehick
(furp): furp, whoodleplunk

An experimental alternative is offered by WikiSaurus entries. Instead of listing many synonyms in each of several synonymous articles, a single reference can be made in each to a common WikiSaurus page. See corpse, body, WikiSaurus:corpse, WikiSaurus:body for examples.

Antonyms

List words that have the meanings opposite to those of the word being defined.

Where several definitions of the English word exist, follow the same guidelines as given for "synonyms" above.

Translations

List foreign words that have a meaning as close as possible to the English one.

For each language, give the name of the language followed by a colon and the translation(s) into that language. As a broad rule, the names of languages that are named after the country where they are spoken should not be wikified. Wikify only the names of regional languages (for example, Catalan), dialects (for example, Friulian), cants (for example, Cockney rhyming slang) and artificial languages (for example, Esperanto).

Wikify the translation (or the important words in the translation, if the translation is not a set phrase in the foreign language) by enclosing it in square brackets; for example, "rouge", the French translation of "red", would look like this: [[rouge]]. If the translation is exactly the same as the English word, do not wikify it (as this just links back to the current page).

Follow translations of nouns by their gender, if appropriate (in italics and abbreviated to m (masculine), f (feminine), n (neuter) or c (common)). For translations of adjectives, give the masculine and feminine forms, if appropriate. Only the masculine form need be wikified.

Where several definitions of the English word exist, a separate list of translations is needed for each. In order that it is clear which translations apply to which definition, the following approach is recommended:

Summarise the definition being translated in bold text.
Set up a "translation table" (see HTML code for this below).
Add the translations that you are able to provide.

An invented example (note that the translations are also made up):

squortle

1. A small squort.
2. The sound made by a squortle.

Translations

small squort

French: squortette f
German: Schwortl m

sound made by a squortle

French: cri d'une squortette m
German: Schrumpf m

The HTML code for a translation table is the following:

{| border=0 width=100%
|-
|bgcolor="#FFFFE0" valign=top width=48%|
{|

|}
| width=1% |
|bgcolor="#FFFFE0" valign=top width=48%|
{|

|}
|}

See fox for an example of this technique.

When a translation is exactly the same as a word in another language, the link can be made to go directly to the entry for that language by using an HTML anchor. Doing this is optional. For example, suppose the word "squortette" is a Portuguese word as well as a French one. Then the link could be made directly to the French translation by typing: French: [[squortette#French|squortette]]. The "#French" makes the link go to the "French" section of the page for "squortette". The text following the "|" is the text that will appear as the link in the page once it is saved; so, in this case, the translation will appear in the saved page as "French: squortette".

Note that Wiktionary policy is to give translations into multiple languages for English words only. In entries for foreign words, give only the English translation. This helps ensure the consistency of the translations provided.

Quotations

This is for citations showing usage found "in the wild". The style should be like this:

2004: I really love to hrunk! — The Title of My Book, John Doe

That's an emdash: —

Derived terms

List words that have this word in their etymologies. For example, under Irish is listed Irish coffee. Under California is listed Californian.

Related terms

List words that are morphologically related, but aren't derived terms and aren't listed in the etymology.

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