A command-line, interactive mini dictionary

In Google, you can use the search term “define:word” to get the definition of a given word. Google can also pronounce the word.

I’ve made a simple script that gives similar functionalities from the command-line. Usage: just type in a word. The script is part of my jabbapylib library; available here.

Screenshot

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Jabba's Interactive Mini Dictionary v0.1.0
q - quit | c - clear
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>>> barkeeper
===Definition===
(noun)
A person who owns or operates a bar for the sale of alcoholic beverages.
===Examples===
(1) Aaron called the barkeeper over and asked for a beer.
(2) The barkeeper was the only human in the establishment; all of the patrons were stout, broad-faced halflings.
>>>

It’s not visible here, but the script pronounces the given word too.

The script uses the API of wordnik.com, so you’ll need to ask an API key (free). More info here.

Audio pronunciation of words from Google

Amit Agarwal has a nice post entitled “Download the Audio Pronunciation of Words from Google“.

In short
Take the following template URL:

https://ssl.gstatic.com/dictionary/static/sounds/de/0/WORD.mp3

And replace WORD with the word you want to hear pronounced. With mplayer and vlc I couldn’t play them directly, first I had to download them with wget.

Examples:

• https://ssl.gstatic.com/dictionary/static/sounds/de/0/python.mp3
• https://ssl.gstatic.com/dictionary/static/sounds/de/0/structure.mp3

Update
This is implemented in my jabbapylib library, see here.

A little help for hyphenating words in LaTeX

Problem
When working with LaTeX, sometimes I’m not sure if a word is correctly hyphenated by LaTeX so I’d like to verify that. As I’m not a native English speaker, it’d be nice to hear the correct pronunciation too.

Solution
I made a little script that addresses the two problems (available here). It’s part of my jabbapylib library. The script relies on dictionary.com.