HDG Dictionaries for e-readers (Koreader, Kindle, Aard, maybe more?)

I have a rooted florted Kobo with Koreader on it, and since I put the the Glossary and List of Xenodrugs wiki pages on it for reference while reading, I figured I'd convert these to a proper dictionary so I can look stuff up directly from the fic I'm reading.

After I published the dictionaries, I got some help from someone with a Kindle so I was able to convert them for those devices too!

To downoad, either grab it from megaupload, or join the thread in the HDG discord. I don't know a better place to host a 500kb zip file without paying 60 euros a year, or having it be used to train AI. So no neocities, github or gitlab.

The dictionaries are built using pyglossary from a csv file. The download includes all built files already, but if you want to build them yourself, use build-koreader.sh and build-kindle.sh and then you'll find the files in the output folder for each platform.

Current dictionaries a taken from the wiki, the Glosssary and List of Xenodrugs. I've made some small modifications, such as removing links to the wiki (alas, they didn't work) and added some phonetics to difficult words.

Koreader is an alternative e-book reader and file manager app for Kobo e-readers. There's also a Kindle version, and you can even install the .apk file on any other android device.

Installation instructions for Kobo e-readers, manual and automatic options are availble, it's not a lot of work and doesn't void the warranty, but you should always make a back-up beforehand: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=314220

For android, grab a release here (warning, they're using crappy AI art): https://github.com/koreader/koreader/releases

Koreader turned an obnoxious and borderline useless corpo device full of advertising into a good little e-reader.

If you're planning to buy a Kobo, it won't let you do anything until you register its built-in shop, where they make you pay to for out-of-copyright classic literature. It's so stupid.

There's a workaround for this, if you have a PC or Mac: https://yingtongli.me/blog/2018/07/30/kobo-rego.html

You can also just enter a false e-mail address.

First unzip the file somewhere. It contains both the source, documentation, and ready-made dictionaries in the output/koreader folder.

Connect the Kobo device to your computer or android device via USB and go to .adds/kobo/data/dict. This folder may be hidden, so enable the setting that lets you see hidden folders. Create new a subfolder here, I just called mine HDG. Then place all the dictionary files from the output/koreader folder in there. You can drop multiple dictionaries in a single folder, so the HDG Glossary and the Xenodrugs can sit there comfortably together.

Eject/unmount the USB connection and Koreader will reboot. That's it!

Finally, you should set the HDG Glossary as the top most dictionary on your device, so that you're shown HDG's version of terms like "cotyledon" instead of the botanical one.

Technical deets: The pyglossary manual says "Use StarDict (Merge Syns) plugin (instead of this one) to create glossaries for using in sdcv or KOReader" but this doesn't appear to work right. Regular StarDict format seems to work perfectly fine. I have no idea why, but it all works so whatever.

This can only be done over USB, just drop the HDG Glossary.mobi and Xenodrug Classes.mobi folders from output/kindle onto your Kindle in the documents/dictionaries folder.

If you run into problems I can't help you, since I don't have a Kindle myself. But maybe another sophont with a Kindle can? We're a community, we can help each other out.

Please let me know if you ran into problems and were able to fix them, I will update my documentation.

To build for Kindle, you'll need the kindlegen executable, which you can get at https://archive.org/download/kindlegen_linux_2_6_i386_v2_9

Just drop it somewhere in your $PATH. Hardcoding the path in the build script caused all sorts of weird issues.

Aard is a stand-alone dictionary app for Android, you can find it on F-Droid or Google Play.

First, put both .slob files from the output/aard folder somewhere on your Android device. Remember where. Open Aard, go to the Dictionaries tab, press the big plus button in the top right and then navigate to the .slob files. You have to add them one at a time.

Pyglossary can support many different formats, so I can probably convert the dictionaries for other devices. But I can't test them.

Poke me and I'll generate a dictionary in your desired format and you can give it a shot. The download includes the full sources so you can even do it yourself. Please let me know how/if it worked, I'll gladly add it here.

Here's a list of supported formats for Pyglossary: https://github.com/ilius/pyglossary#supported-formats

In the tests folder you'll find dictionary-test-document.epub which will let you easily test terms and synonyms. And also the dictionary-test-document.odt that I used to create the epub.

I plan to regularly check the wiki for changes, and update the dictionaries here. The wiki is authoritative. If you think something should be added to the dictionaries, you should suggest it as an addition for the the main HDG wiki first, and it'll eventually make its way here. This is just a conversion project.

The Glossary is based off the wiki page from [2025-10-01 Wed] and the Xenodrugs one is from [2024-10-13 Sun]. If newer edits show up, then I'll diff them to see what's changed.

As of writing, the new wiki doesn't yet have a Xenodrug classes page, so it's taken from the old wiki.

The csv table is set up as follows:

The glossary on the wiki is organized by Stimulacrum & teagan, and is maintained by the Lorets as a whole.

All I did was convert this page to a CSV and make some minor changes so it played well with the dictionary software.

I'm in the HDG Discord as 'TBM'. I'm also on tumblr at https://thebenevolentmachine.tumblr.com

Either will work but Tumblr may be difficult about sharing links.