Etymology Lookup/Wiktionary browser in Emacs.

Usage

• Install using your favorite package manager, is published on MELPA.
• Use it: M-x wiktionary-bro-dwim
  • <TAB> to collapse/expand sections
  • RET on Wiktionary links to navigate to that entry (opens in wiktionary-bro buffer)
  • RET on Wikipedia/external links to open in browser
  • C-c C-l to change the language and re-render the current entry (shows available languages)
• Pronunciation gets played via ffplay (typically bundled in ffmpeg), or you can set it to play through any other app by setting wiktionary-bro-audio-player
• Note that the content won’t be wrapped, this is done so the tables are rendered properly.

Multi-language support

• Set wiktionary-bro-language to change the default language (e.g., "fr" for French, "de" for German)
• In a wiktionary-bro buffer, press C-c C-l to change the language and re-render the entry
• The language picker shows only languages that have an entry for the current word
• Links within wiktionary-bro buffers respect the current language setting

External links

• External links (Wikipedia, etc.) open in EWW by default
• To use your system browser instead:

  (defun wiktionary-use-system-browser-h ()
    "Use system browser for external links in wiktionary-bro."
    (setq-local browse-url-browser-function #'browse-url-default-browser))
  
  (add-hook 'wiktionary-bro-mode-hook #'wiktionary-use-system-browser-h)
      

Example configuration

Doom Emacs

packages.el:

(package! wiktionary-bro)

config.el:

(use-package! wiktionary-bro
  :commands (wiktionary-bro-dwim)
  :config
  (map! :leader
    :desc "Wiktionary"
    "xlw" #'wiktionary-bro-dwim))

Similar packages for writing

Wiktionary is an amazing dictionary, a comprehensive toolkit with main focus on word etymology, but it also gives you:

• Definitions
• Pronunciation
• Parts of speech
• Translations
• Related words
• Inflections

You may like some other packages in the same space and maybe add them to your writer’s toolkit:

define-it

definition lookup

define-word

definition lookup - grabs it from wordnik.com

quick-sdcv

modern fork of much older sdcv.el - interface to Stardict CLI. Lifesaver for when you suddenly have no internet.

mw-thesaurus

Merriam-Webster Thesaurus. There are a bunch of other thesauri packages, some of them are for quick and simple lookup/replacement, some of them are much more complex. This one displays results in an org-mode outline (just like wiktionary-bro)