Wordnik

aid: wordnik
name: Wordnik
description: >-
  Wordnik is the largest online English dictionary by number of words. Its v4 REST API
  exposes definitions from five dictionaries, etymologies, real example sentences from
  millions of sources, audio pronunciations, related-word relationships, frequency over
  time, hyphenation, bi-gram phrases, scrabble scores, random words, reverse-dictionary
  lookup, word-of-the-day, and authenticated user word lists.
url: https://developer.wordnik.com
image: https://wordnik.com/img/logo-wordnik-home.png
specificationVersion: '0.20'
created: '2026-05-28'
modified: '2026-05-29'
x-source: public-apis/public-apis
x-category: Dictionaries
x-tier: 2
x-tier-reason: enriched-from-bulk-public-apis-with-full-openapi-and-capability-pipeline
tags:
  - Dictionaries
  - Dictionary
  - Word Data
  - English
  - Lexicography
  - Public APIs
apis:
  - name: Wordnik
    description: >-
      The v4 Wordnik API exposes single-word lookups (definitions, etymologies, examples,
      pronunciations, related words, frequency, hyphenation, phrases, scrabble score, audio),
      cross-word discovery (random word, search, reverse dictionary, word of the day), and
      authenticated user word-list management. Authentication is a single api_key query
      parameter; user-scoped operations require an auth_token header obtained via
      /account.json/authenticate.
    humanURL: https://developer.wordnik.com
    baseURL: https://api.wordnik.com/v4
    tags:
      - Dictionary
      - Word Data
      - Lexicography
      - English
    properties:
      - type: Documentation
        url: https://developer.wordnik.com/docs
      - type: GettingStarted
        url: https://developer.wordnik.com/gettingstarted
      - type: OpenAPI
        url: openapi/wordnik-openapi.yml
      - type: SDK
        title: Python SDK
        url: https://pypi.org/project/wordnik-py3/
      - type: SDK
        title: Python 2 SDK (legacy)
        url: https://pypi.org/project/wordnik/
      - type: SDK
        title: Ruby SDK
        url: https://rubygems.org/gems/wordnik
      - type: SDK
        title: PHP SDK
        url: https://github.com/wordnik/wordnik-php
      - type: SDK
        title: Java SDK
        url: https://github.com/wordnik/wordnik-clients/tree/master/java
      - type: SDK
        title: Kotlin SDK
        url: https://github.com/wordnik/wordnik-clients/tree/master/kotlin
      - type: SDK
        title: Scala SDK
        url: https://github.com/wordnik/wordnik-clients/tree/master/scala
      - type: SDK
        title: Android SDK
        url: https://github.com/wordnik/wordnik-clients/tree/master/android-java
      - type: SDK
        title: Objective-C SDK
        url: https://github.com/wordnik/wordnik-clients/tree/master/objc
      - type: NaftikoCapability
        url: capabilities/wordnik-word.yaml
      - type: NaftikoCapability
        url: capabilities/wordnik-words.yaml
      - type: NaftikoCapability
        url: capabilities/wordnik-word-list.yaml
      - type: NaftikoCapability
        url: capabilities/wordnik-word-lists.yaml
      - type: NaftikoCapability
        url: capabilities/wordnik-account.yaml
common:
  - type: Website
    url: https://wordnik.com
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://developer.wordnik.com
  - type: Pricing
    url: https://developer.wordnik.com/pricing
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://developer.wordnik.com/gettingstarted
  - type: Signup
    url: https://www.wordnik.com/signup
  - type: Blog
    url: https://blog.wordnik.com
  - type: StatusPage
    url: https://github.com/wordnik/wordnik-status
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/wordnik
  - type: Support
    url: mailto:[email protected]
  - type: TermsOfService
    url: https://www.wordnik.com/about
  - type: Plans
    url: plans/wordnik-plans-pricing.yml
  - type: RateLimits
    url: rate-limits/wordnik-rate-limits.yml
  - type: FinOps
    url: finops/wordnik-finops.yml
  - type: Vocabulary
    url: vocabulary/wordnik-vocabulary.yml
  - type: SpectralRuleset
    url: rules/wordnik-rules.yml
  - type: JSONLDContext
    url: json-ld/wordnik-context.jsonld
  - type: OpenSource
    title: Wordnik Public Word List
    url: https://github.com/wordnik/wordlist
  - type: OpenSource
    title: NYT First Said
    url: https://github.com/wordnik/nyt-first-said
  - type: OpenSource
    title: Language Museums Dataset
    url: https://github.com/wordnik/language-museums
  - type: PublicAPIsListing
    url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
features:
  - name: Five Dictionary Sources
    description: Definitions are drawn from American Heritage (ahd-5), Wiktionary, Webster, Century, and WordNet — selectable per request via sourceDictionaries.
  - name: Real-World Example Sentences
    description: Examples come from millions of sources rather than constructed example text, with citation metadata via /word.json/{word}/examples and /topExample.
  - name: Audio Pronunciations
    description: AHD mp3 audio pronunciations exposed via /word.json/{word}/audio with time-expiring fileUrls.
  - name: Word Graph Relationships
    description: Synonym, antonym, hypernym, hyponym, rhyme, and 17 other relationship types via /word.json/{word}/relatedWords.
  - name: Frequency Over Time
    description: Annual usage counts from 1800 onward via /word.json/{word}/frequency for historical / linguistic research.
  - name: Reverse Dictionary
    description: Natural-language query to candidate words via /words.json/reverseDictionary.
  - name: Word Of The Day
    description: Curated daily word with definitions, examples, and editorial notes via /words.json/wordOfTheDay.
  - name: User Word Lists
    description: Authenticated users can create, edit, and curate named word lists via /wordList.json and /wordLists.json.
useCases:
  - name: Dictionary App
    description: Build a consumer-facing dictionary or thesaurus app using definitions, etymologies, pronunciations, and examples.
  - name: Word Games
    description: Power crossword, scrabble, hangman, and word-discovery games using random words, search, and scrabble scoring.
  - name: Vocabulary Learning
    description: Build a flashcard or vocabulary-coach app using user word lists, word of the day, and definitions across grade levels.
  - name: Editorial Tooling
    description: Surface synonyms, antonyms, and reverse-dictionary lookup inside CMS / writing tools.
  - name: Linguistic Research
    description: Use frequency-over-time data and the word-graph for academic linguistics and lexicographic research.
  - name: Children's Education
    description: Use the forthcoming children's / student definitions tier for age-appropriate vocabulary apps.
integrations:
  - name: Python (wordnik-py3)
    description: Official Python 3 client published to PyPI as `wordnik-py3`.
  - name: Ruby (wordnik)
    description: Official Ruby gem published to RubyGems as `wordnik`.
  - name: PHP
    description: Swagger-generated PHP client in wordnik/wordnik-php.
  - name: Java
    description: Swagger-generated Java client in wordnik/wordnik-clients/java.
  - name: Kotlin / Scala / Android / Objective-C
    description: Additional swagger-generated clients in wordnik/wordnik-clients.
solutions:
  - name: Dictionary-Of-Record Integration
    description: Use Wordnik as the canonical dictionary for a product surface, hitting /word.json/{word}/definitions with sourceDictionaries selection logic.
  - name: Quota-Aware Caching Layer
    description: Cache results aggressively per-word and use /account.json/apiTokenStatus telemetry plus X-RateLimit headers to right-size the Hobby / Pro / Enterprise tier.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: [email protected]