Wiktionary:Feedback
This page is for collecting feedback from Wiktionary readers. It should be cleaned out on a three-month basis, as new comments are constantly being added. Feel free to reply to and discuss comments here, though bear in mind that the people who leave the feedback may never come back to read replies. By convention, the feedback is not archived.
- Links: Wiki Javascript (for adding to your WMF Wiki.)
- Q. X isn’t a real word! Why do you have an entry for it?
- A. Like most dictionaries, Wiktionary describes and records how people use languages, and does not try to prescribe what is supposedly right or wrong. In some cases, labels are added to warn people that certain usages may be regarded as, for example, derogatory to some people or regarded by some people as proscribed (generally recommended not to be used). If you really feel that an entry should not in Wiktionary, discuss the matter with other editors at Wiktionary:Tea room. Alternatively, if you have done a search at websites such as Google Books and the Internet Archive and cannot find uses of the term, you can request for the entry to be verified at Wiktionary:Requests for verification (see that page for instructions).
- Q. Why don’t you provide audio files giving the pronunciations of all entries?
- A. The recording of audio files requires volunteer editors who have the right equipment and software, and who know how to upload these files to the Wikimedia Commons. All this is somewhat time-consuming, and it seems that at the moment we simply don’t have editors who are able to do this for us regularly. We suggest that you learn how to read the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions of pronunciations. For English entries, you can visit Appendix:English pronunciation, which you can also reach by clicking on the “(key)” link next to the word IPA on entry pages.
- Q. How do I propose that a Wiktionary for another language be started?
- A. See incubator:Help:Manual.
January 2025
[edit]Is there no dark mode? Dark mode would be lovely if the time could be spared to do so. 68.112.157.173 07:14, 1 January 2025 (UTC)
- There is. See mw:Manual:Dark mode for methods, such as "You can also force the dark mode feature on a page. Add ?vectornightmode=1 (for Vector 2022, the desktop skin) or ?minervanightmode=1 (for Minerva, the mobile skin) to the URL." —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 11:18, 1 January 2025 (UTC)
Endoploidy is a scientific term that refers to the amount of DNA in a cell that has increased because of endoreduplication. This is different from endopolyploidy, which describes the general process where cells replicate their DNA multiple times without dividing. The distinction is similar to how we use ploidy to talk about a specific DNA content level in a cell and polyploidy to refer to having multiple sets of chromosomes.--Nicola Trozzi (talk) 00:20, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
Terrible. --2600:8804:481:F300:388B:B182:4F48:5190 13:26, 27 January 2025 (UTC)
- Looks all right now. I am unsure what somebody did, but earlier it was causing graphical glitches. (((Romanophile))) ♞ (contributions) 09:50, 28 January 2025 (UTC)
Template names very confusing
[edit]I came here to expand Wiktionary's coverage on the Korean language and the opaque template names were a roadblock for me. I don't think any newcomer would understand what "n-g", "lb", or "head|ko|phrase" means, doubly so if they are unfamiliar with mediawiki markup. Ca (talk) 06:28, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
- In the search bar, type in ‘template:’ and then the corresponding template name, like template:lb, so that you can get a better understanding of the template’s purpose. (((Romanophile))) ♞ (contributions) 16:34, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
- True, but I think it would be better to just spell out the template names in full. Ca (talk) 04:18, 1 February 2025 (UTC)
Defenition 1 of the adverb 'least' is the opposite of what it should be. It fits 'most' better than 'least'.
1. Used for forming superlatives of adjectives, especially those that do not form the superlative by adding -est.
Scelultrix (talk) 17:29, 31 January 2025 (UTC)
February 2025
[edit]Word of the day: We are having a holoalphabetic month—each day features a term starting with a different letter of the alphabet (and two numbers)!
[edit]Nothing major, just wanted to give a kudos for the holoalphabetic month thing! Anything to make language learning more interesting is a good thing in my opinion. I strongly and firmly believe (more emphatically by the day) that language is the root of all knowledge and communication is the secondary effect of that - but both are incredibly important. On that note, I have been running through a list of different sources for a daily "word of the day" and "quote of the day" for a little while now, and one of the things I have noticed that kind of bothers me - which I noticed before starting this routine - is just what exactly constitutes a "word" and when it is or is not appropriate to add a "new word" to any dictionary.
So that kind of is exactly the type of thing Wikimedia projects are directly concerned with, and ultimately there is no great answer I think, though I will say it is an entirely different thing when finding that Wiktionary has a page for an obscure "word" and when finding OED or Cambridge has "Officially™️" endorsed some obscure word as legitimate.*
Simply put, Wikimedia is an important and awesome project and idea but there is kind of a balancing act that has gotten out of balance in many ways between the Wikimedia side of things, the Institutional™️ side of things (which has a balancing act in itself between academia, government, commerce, and religion/general public), and the general populace that is somewhere between, if y'know what I mean.
- See:
Todays Word of the Day from OED: https://www.oed.com/dictionary/hipoisie_n
Which led me to: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hipoisie
Which led me to: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hippolite
Which led me to: https://www.oed.com/dictionary/hippolith_n , https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hippolith
Which led to this ancient book which is the only source I could find via google scholar containing the word "hippolith" which seems sort of ominous but appropriate: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=E9JVAAAAcAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=%22hippolith%22&ots=fMHCoM45Zb&sig=YdczU3O7kNEw2u6gNmxgnYtglLQ#v=onepage&q=%22hippolith%22&f=false (De fatis politicae imperialis disquisitionem/An investigation into the fate of imperial politics By Heinrich Gottlieb Francke, Adam Ludwig)
There are a lot more thoughts on these topics brought to mind by these findings but they are far beyond the scope of a simple feedback so I will save those for another time and possibly place.
Thanks! — This unsigned comment was added by Relevantusername2020 (talk • contribs) at 09:21, 3 February 2025.
- Hi, @Relevantusername2020. I'm not sure I fully understand what you're asking about, but as regards the terms which are acceptable for inclusion in the Wiktionary, see "Wiktionary:Criteria for inclusion". — Sgconlaw (talk) 11:22, 3 February 2025 (UTC)
- No worries, there was no question. I don't think all feedback needs to be either critical or asking for clarification - consider it an overly verbose thumbs up 👍 Relevantusername2020 (talk) 20:31, 3 February 2025 (UTC)
Hideous. --72.206.125.109 16:03, 4 February 2025 (UTC)
- I've seen worse 90.167.219.140 10:50, 22 February 2025 (UTC)
"Not dictionary material"
[edit]What does that mean? Does it mean something not covered by books? My page was recently deleted due to that. 49.145.107.76 11:23, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
- So, in order for something to be on the wiktionary, does it mean that it should have citations? 49.145.107.76 11:31, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
I would have expected to see, also for this definite article, its gender, numerus and case. — This unsigned comment was added by Rolf Åberg (talk • contribs) at 10:15, 19 February 2025 (UTC).
- Hej, Hr @Rolf Åberg, thank you for your observations on Ancient Greek. (2 & 1) Lemma 'titles' do not include a Section of grammatical recognition as inflectional forms do (e.g. τό (tó), ἡ (hē)). One can also check the Inflection table to see if the lemma.form is also a case of itself e.g. φυτόν (phutón) which is nominative singular neuter, but also accusative and vocative of itself (here it would be nice to have it)
- 2. [you note at Talk:ἀγαθοποιησόμενος] Yes!, of course: the 'title' of the Section should be 'Participle' like λυόμενος (luómenos), λελυμένος (leluménos). Thank you. ‑‑Sarri.greek ♫ I 05:33, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
I see the heading on the page ?: as ?\: (with the backslash). Could you fix the template? Okterakt (talk) 00:43, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
March 2025
[edit]Could you, please, leave the side bar automatically again? It's always folded or omitted, and it's bothersome to always have to unfold it back. Thanks in advance!
numbering of floors
[edit]Wiktionary recognises the different standards regarding how floors are numbered, both G/1/2/3 (typically Europe) and 1/2/3/4 (typically North America). But I find it very strange that Wiktionary do take this into consieration.
On article Stock#German it has the following:
- im dritten Stock ― on the third floor (UK counting)/fourth floor (US counting)
This gives the implication that a floor labelled as "3" in Europe would be called "dritten Stock" in German, "third floor" in UK English, "fourth floor" in US English. But a floor labelled as "3" in North America would be called "zweiten Stock" in German, "second floor" in UK English, "third floor" in US English.
However, I would believe that the reality isn't like this. I would assume most people would call a floor labelled as "3" as the third floor, regardless of language or culture, regardless of where this building is located. Maybe I am the odd one for calling the floor labelled "3" as the third floor regardless of which country it is? There are also some buildings where the entrance is on the floor labelled as "2"; does this mean you have to call the floor labelled as "3" as "first floor" in UK English and "second floor" in US English?
So in conclusion, on the article Stock#German, it should rather say:
- im dritten Stock ― on the third floor
This is because "dritten"/"third" here is referring to the floor with number 3, regardless of its relation to the ground.
But a change like this would apply to all articles. On article first floor, it would only have 1 meaning: the floor labelled 1. Then it can have a note about which cultures typically have this as the groud floor or the floor above the ground floor, but this doesn't change how the word is used or how it would be translated. Pon Pon the bon bon (talk) 11:39, 13 March 2025 (UTC)
Honestly I like Wiktionary a lot! what I'd like to see is more integration with WikiData, both with the lexemes and regular items. MonkeyPython (talk) 10:34, 15 March 2025 (UTC)
"https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:RandomInCategory/English_lemmas#English" seems to be broken. It's returning the same small set of entries over and over again. Gejyspa (talk) 09:56, 21 March 2025 (UTC)
- Clicking on that link several times just now brought me to a variety of pages, with different amounts of letters, parts of speech, numbers of definitions per entry, number of languages per entry, etc. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 10:06, 21 March 2025 (UTC)
- Were any of them Tuxedo, methanogenecity, HBS, pentangularly, Szczytno, Boșorod or Haggis McBaggis?
- These are examples of some of ones that I see over and over again Gejyspa (talk) 10:22, 21 March 2025 (UTC)
- None. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 10:46, 21 March 2025 (UTC)
- Special:Random and Special:RandomInCategory unfortunately both use very poor sources of randomness. There's not too much we can do about it, since they're part of MediaWiki tself. — SURJECTION / T / C / L / 11:42, 21 March 2025 (UTC)