This site is an arm of the • Padma Karpo Translation Committee.  It has the sole purpose of providing an on-line dictionary resource using the various electronic dictionaries made by PKTC.  At the moment, the site provides access to PKTC’s flagship Tibetan-English Dictionary called The Illuminator, a dictionary widely regarded as the best Tibetan-English dictionary available.  If this proves to be successful, more dictionaries and possibly free online texts will be added.  Access to the site is by yearly subscription at a modest fee.  We do not provide free on-line dictionaries for the simple reason that we aim for the highest quality.  Our offering here is markedly better than free dictionaries both in its mode of use and in the very high quality of the dictionary offered.

First you will need to register and purchase a subscription to the dictionary, which is done through the registration and subscription page or use this button:


Subscriptions last for one year from the date of purchase.  At the end of that time, you can renew your subscription at a discounted price by using the buttons in the section immediately following this one.  Do *not* attempt to renew a subscription by going through the initial registration process again; simply use the buttons in the next section to pay for a renewal of your subscription.

When you subscribe for the first time, you will be asked to provide information including your own login name and password.  You will then pay for your subscription using credit card any of the several other types of payment, such as Paypal, cheque, and so on supported by our shop.

When you have successfully made the purchase, we will activate your subscription.  This will generally happen within 48 hours.  We will notify you by return e-mail that your subscription has been activated.  If you provide a false or incorrect e-mail, we will not be able to verify your subscription!  Providing a false e-mail address or name on the registration page only creates trouble for all; you will have to provide your correct name and e-mail during the purchase process!

After your subscription has been activated, you will be able to log in to the dictionary area.  For this you will need the login name and password that you provided when you made the subscription.

Please be warned that we DO NOT provide assistance with lost login names and passwords.  The onus is entirely on you to note them down and keep them safely.  The login page does provide an automated way for you to regain the password to an subscription.

Your initial subscription lasts for one year.  After that, you can renew your subscription at a discounted price using this button:


When you have successfully made the purchase, we will re-activate your subscription.  This will generally happen within 48 hours.  We will also notify you by return e-mail that your subscription has been re-activated.

The dictionary works equally well in a browser on a computer and on mobile phones, tablets, and so on.  Iphones and iPads with the latest version of the OS have support for Tibetan fonts.  Android phones with the latest version of the OS can install third-party fonts; a free Tibetan font is available for them on the internet.

First login to the dictionary on the login page:
We suggest you bookmark the page for future convenience.  Once you have logged in using your user name and password, you will have access to the dictionary page.

The controls available for searching are simple but very powerful.  They are also self-explanatory.  Here are a few hints:

• You can type Tibetan text and/or English text in the search box and search according to the other settings you have chosen.  A list of entries in the dictionary matching your search will appear and can be read.  To start at the very beginning of the dictionary, search for “TITLE” in the headword.  There is some value to doing that: there are several entries following the TITLE entry that provide information about Tibetan language and dictionaries.
• Tibetan words always end with any of several punctuation marks.  In native Tibetan dictionaries, headwords end either with a shay (a vertical stroke) or with a tsheg (a small dot-like mark).  To make the use of this dictionary as easy as possible, headwords always end with a tsheg, so when you type your search string you must type a tsheg at the end of words in Tibetan script in order to find the text.  For lookups done in transliteration mode, end what you are looking for with a space or no special ending.  (In transliterated Tibetan, a space is the equivalent of a tsheg.)
• The simple search screen allows you to search for an exact match in dictionary headwords.  The advanced search lets you find anything throughout the whole dictionary.  When you log in you start at the simple search screen and can easily switch to the advanced search using the appropriate radio button.
• When a match is found and that item displayed, you can click on the up and down arrows to the right of the search screen in order to scroll up and down through the dictionary one item at a time.
• Hyperlinks work.  Click on hyperlinked words and you will go directly to the definition of that term.

To type Tibetan, you can do one of two things.  If you do not have our TibetDoc or TibetD Reader software, you can use the Tibetan support that comes with your operating system.  For example, Windows provides a Tibetan keyboard and Tibetan font from Vista onwards.  The Macintosh provides Tibetan support in OSX above version 10.6.  If you have questions about how to get Tibetan support in your operating system or how to make it work the way you want, do not write to us but seek help locally or on-line.

The “Himalaya” font from Microsoft works very well on all devices that support Open-type fonts.  Our free Tibetan Machine Unicode typeface also works well: • it is available here.

Those who have our TibetDoc or TibetD Reader Tibetan software version 5.23 and above can use that to type Tibetan then copy and paste the text into the online dictionary’s search controls.  This might sound cumbersome in cases where the operating system has support for Tibetan.  However, it is a fact that the keyboards and so on provided in Windows, etcetera are very poorly designed.  Our keyboards are designed for ease of use and anyone who regularly uses our software will doubtless find it easier to write the desired text in the software and copy and paste it.

Note that TibetDoc can be used as a wordprocessing resource in conjunction with the online dictionary.  You can use it to copy relevant sections of the dictionary into your own work in TibetDoc and go from there.  Given the wide range of important Tibetan texts that we make available for free in TibetDoc format, many will find this an excellent way to work.  TibetDoc can be purchased through our software department • here.

Sharing your log in name and passwords with others is highly unethical and strictly against our rules.  If you do it anyway, you will find that we have built certain safety features into the software to prevent this kind of piracy as soon as it happens.  We will know who you are and you will be in danger of losing your subscription without further warning.  You have been warned.

© 1998-2016, Padma Karpo Translation Committee