Kotomora

About Kotomora

Kotomora is a Japanese dictionary and grammar reference for English speakers that cares about how words and patterns are actually used — the nuance, register, and context a bare gloss or pattern label leaves out. Look up a word, kanji, English phrase, grammar point, or a whole sentence and explore from there.

Our approach

Most dictionaries hand you a one-line translation and stop. Kotomora connects detailed word and kanji entries with sentence analysis and a Japanese grammar reference: readings and furigana, pitch accent, conjugation, frequency and JLPT level, grammar formations and usage notes, real examples, and the related words and patterns that are easy to confuse.

  • Everything is explorable. Words, kanji, grammar points, and the words in every example sentence are clickable, so one lookup turns into a connected map instead of a dead end.
  • Usage over glosses. We explain when to reach for one word or structure instead of a similar alternative, not just what it means in isolation.
  • Built for learners. Readings, stroke order, connected grammar guides, and sentence breakdowns are there to help you read and produce real Japanese, at every level.

Who makes Kotomora

Kotomora is built in Tokyo by language learners working alongside native Japanese speakers — people who have felt the gap between a dictionary definition and how a word is really used, and set out to build the resource they wished they'd had. Our content is created by our team and reviewed by native Japanese speakers, and we draw on established, openly-licensed language data (below) wherever an authoritative source exists.

Data & acknowledgements

This site uses the JMdict/EDICT and KANJIDIC dictionary files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, and are used in conformance with the Group's licence.

Kanji stroke-order diagrams use data from KanjiVG, distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Support

For feedback, issues, and privacy information, visit Support or read the Privacy Policy.