<P> This is a list of dictionaries considered authoritative or complete by approximate number of total words, or headwords, included . These figures do not take account of entries with senses for different word classes (such as noun and adjective) and homographs . Although it is possible to count the number of entries in a dictionary, it is not possible to count the number of words in a language . In compiling a dictionary, a lexicographer decides whether the evidence of use is sufficient to justify an entry in the dictionary . This decision is not the same as determining whether the word exists . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Language </Th> <Th> Dictionary </Th> <Th> Approximate number of words </Th> <Th> Notes </Th> <Th> References </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Korean </Td> <Td> 우리말 샘 (Woori Mal Saem, 2017) </Td> <Td> 1,100,373 </Td> <Td> Online open dictionary including dialects of South and North Korea . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Turkish </Td> <Td> Büyük Türkçe Sözlük </Td> <Td> 616,767 </Td> <Td> Online dictionary of the Turkish Language Association </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Swedish </Td> <Td> Svenska Akademiens ordbok, Swedish Academy </Td> <Td> ~ 600,000 </Td> <Td> After having completed letters A through T SAOB included 470,000 words, but 600,000 words when the alphabet is complete in 2017 . Svenska Akademiens ordlista, which includes only commonly used words, currently includes ~ 126,000 words after having added 13,500 and removed 9,000 in its latest edition, SAOL 14, plus an additional 200,000 still encountered words in earlier editions . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Icelandic </Td> <Td> Orðabók Háskólans </Td> <Td> ~ 560,000 </Td> <Td> 43,000 basic words and 519,000 compound words of which more than half are attested only once or don't get into print ("instant combinations") </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Japanese </Td> <Td> Nihon Kokugo Daijiten </Td> <Td> 500,000 and more </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Lithuanian </Td> <Td> Lietuvių kalbos žodynas (Academic Dictionary of Lithuanian) </Td> <Td> 500,000 and more </Td> <Td> 22,000 pages in 20 volumes with quotations from all kinds of writing and dialect records between 1547 and 2001 . Accessible online at www.lkz.lt . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Norwegian </Td> <Td> Norsk Ordbok </Td> <Td> ca . 500,000 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Dutch </Td> <Td> Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal </Td> <Td> ca . 400,000 </Td> <Td> The 43 volumes of the WNT (including three supplements) consist of 49,255 pages, describing Dutch words from 1500 to 1976 . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> German </Td> <Td> Deutsches Wörterbuch </Td> <Td> 330,000 </Td> <Td> 330,000 words in use since the mid-fifteenth century .--Duden's Großes Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache contains over 200,000 contemporary words . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Gujarati </Td> <Td> Bhagavadgomandal </Td> <Td> 281,377 </Td> <Td> 2.81 lakh words and their meanings in 9 volumes . Also serves as an encyclopedia with almost 8.22 lakh words . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> French </Td> <Td> Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé </Td> <Td> 270,000 </Td> <Td> ATILF (Analyse et Traitement Informatique de la Langue Française--Computer Processing and Analysis of the French Language) <P> 135,000 (Larousse Dictionnaire de français, published by Editions Larousse) </P> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Italian </Td> <Td> Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso </Td> <Td> 260,000 and more </Td> <Td> The number of "sayable and writable" word forms is estimated at over 2 million </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> English </Td> <Td> Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition </Td> <Td> 171,476 </Td> <Td> Oxford Dictionary has 273,000 headwords; 171,476 of them being in current use, 47,156 being obsolete words and around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries . The dictionary contains 157,000 combinations and derivatives in bold type, and 169,000 phrases and combinations in bold italic type, making a total of over 600,000 word - forms . <P> There is one count that puts the English vocabulary at about 1 million words--but that count presumably includes words such as Latin species names, prefixed and suffixed words, scientific terminology, jargon, foreign words of extremely limited English use and technical acronyms . </P> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Danish </Td> <Td> Ordbog over det danske sprog, Dansk Sprognævn </Td> <Td> 200,000 - 300,000 </Td> <Td> Dansk Sprognævn grows with 5,000 to 7,000 words a year </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Russian </Td> <Td> Большой академический словарь русского языка (The Great Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language) </Td> <Td> 150,000 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Ukrainian </Td> <Td> Словник української мови (The Dictionary of the Ukrainian language) </Td> <Td> 134 058 </Td> <Td> The dictionary was finished in late 1970s - early 1980s </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Tamil </Td> <Td> University of Madras Tamil Lexicon </Td> <Td> 124,405 </Td> <Td> The dictionary includes 124,405 separate entries . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Portuguese </Td> <Td> Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa </Td> <Td> 120,000 </Td> <Td> The dictionary includes 120,000 separate entries, with 300,000 definitions . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Slovene </Td> <Td> Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika, Second edition, 2014 </Td> <Td> 110,180 </Td> <Td> The official dictionary of modern Slovene is Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika (SSKJ; Standard Slovene Dictionary). It was published in five volumes by Državna Založba Slovenije between 1970 and 1991 and contains more than 100,000 entries and subentries with accentuation, part - of - speech labels, common collocations, and various qualifiers . In the 1990s, an electronic version of the dictionary was published and it is available online . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Spanish </Td> <Td> Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española, 23th edition, 2014 </Td> <Td> 93,000 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Indonesian </Td> <Td> Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, 4th edition, 2008 </Td> <Td> 90,049 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Dutch </Td> <Td> Van Dale, 14th edition, 2005 </Td> <Td> 90,000 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Bulgarian </Td> <Td> Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language (monolingual academic explanatory dictionary), (Многотомен) Речник на българския език in Bulgarian, in 15 + volumes </Td> <Td> 119,200 and more headwords </Td> <Td> This dictionary covers vocabulary from the last 150 years of the Bulgarian language and is compiled and edited by linguistics (primarily native lexicographers and lexicologists) from The Institute for the Bulgarian Language (part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). It includes basic, commonly used, literary, colloquial, dialectical, archaic and obsolete Bulgarian words, as well as some specialized terminology . The latest volume (15th) published in 2015 ends with headwords beginning with the (Bulgarian Cyrillic) letter Р . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Chinese </Td> <Td> Zhonghua Zihai </Td> <Td> 85,568 </Td> <Td> Number of different characters in use throughout several millennia of written history . The Hanyu Da Cidian defines some 370,000 words . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Malaysian </Td> <Td> Kamus Dewan, 4th Edition, 2005 </Td> <Td> 82,900 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Catalan </Td> <Td> Diccionari de la llengua catalana (Dictionary of the Catalan language of the Institute of Catalan Studies (DIEC)) </Td> <Td> 69,988 </Td> <Td> The dictionary includes 69,988 headwords and 132,343 definitions . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Classical Latin </Td> <Td> Oxford Latin Dictionary </Td> <Td> 40,000 </Td> <Td> Approximately 40,000 entries with 100,000 senses . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Esperanto </Td> <Td> Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto (Complete Illustrated Dictionary of Esperanto) </Td> <Td> 16,780 </Td> <Td> 46,890 lexical units </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th> Language </Th> <Th> Dictionary </Th> <Th> Approximate number of words </Th> <Th> Notes </Th> <Th> References </Th> </Tr>

How many words in the french language 2016