Pleco Chinese Dictionary3.2.100

Identify unfamiliar Chinese words by searching, drawing characters, reading documents, or pointing an Android camera at text with Pleco Chinese Dictionary. Published by Pleco, this Reading & Writing software combines Chinese-English dictionaries, a document reader, flashcards, handwriting input, audio, Cantonese resources, and camera-based lookup for Chinese learners, readers, and writers. Pleco is freeware for Android and comes from a company with 17 years of experience creating mobile Chinese-learning software.

Its included CC-CEDICT and PLC dictionaries contain 130,000 Chinese words and 20,000 Pinyin-annotated example sentences, with eight more free dictionaries available, including a 22,000-entry Cantonese-English dictionary; 19 additional dictionaries can be added as paid upgrades. Searches accept Chinese characters, Pinyin with optional spaces or tones, mixtures of both, wildcards, and full-text queries. The basic handwriting recognizer handles unknown characters, while enhanced recognition is offered as a paid add-on.

Live OCR recognizes words from a camera view or a still image, and the floating screen reader lets users tap Chinese text inside other Android apps on Android 4.1 and later; OCR in that reader and camera OCR are paid features. A dictionary entry can become a flashcard with one tap, while imported word lists support fill-in-the-blank exercises, tone drills, and spaced repetition; the basic card system is free and the full-featured version is a paid upgrade. Native male and female recordings cover more than 34,000 headwords, with free stitched-syllable playback and paid multi-syllable playback, while example sentences can use free system text-to-speech or paid enhanced speech.

Version 3.2.100 adds updated 2026 HSK 3.0 flashcards for Import/Export and Install Premade Cards, including about 100 custom definitions that surface important HSK senses. It also substantially revises experimental OCR in Settings/OCR for faster recognition, improved single-character rectangles, live and still-image support, and an option to restore the former green overlay, alongside bug fixes.

Free to use — a paid version with additional features is also available.