The Intercontinental Dictionary Series (commonly abbreviated as IDS) is a large database of topical vocabulary lists in various world languages. The general editor of the database is

Bernard Comrie Bernard Sterling Comrie, (; born 23 May 1947) is a British linguist. Comrie is a specialist in linguistic typology, linguistic universals and on Caucasian languages. Personal life Early life and education Comrie was born in Sunderland, Eng ...

of the

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (, shortened to MPI EVA) is a research institute based in Leipzig, Germany, that was founded in 1997. It is part of the Max Planck Society network. Well-known scientists currently based at ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. Mary Ritchie Key of the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

is the founding editor. The database has an especially large selection of indigenous South American languages and

Northeast Caucasian languages The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Nakh-Daghestani or Vainakh-Daghestani, or sometimes Caspian languages (from the Caspian Sea, in contrast to ''Pontic languages'' for the Northwest Caucasian languages), is a langu ...

. The Intercontinental Dictionary Series' advanced browsing function allows users to make custom tables which compare languages in side-by-side columns. Below are the languages that are currently included in the Intercontinental Dictionary Series. The languages are grouped by language families, some of which are still hypothetical. It is part of the Cross-Linguistic Linked Data project hosted by the

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History The Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology () performs fundamental research into archaeological science. The institute is one of more than 80 research institutes of the Max Planck Society and is located in Jena, Germany. History Max Planc ...

Amerindian

North America

Tlingit The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...

* Haida *

Tsimshian The Tsimshian (; ) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace, British Columbia, Terrace and ...

Wakashan Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As is typical of the Nor ...

** Nootka * Salishan ** Bella Coola ** Chehalis * Hokan? ** Karok ** Seri * Zuni *

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

(Sierra de Zacapoaxtla, Puebla) * Chatino, Zacatepec

Northern South America

* Chocoan ** Emberá *** Embera – Colombia *** Epena – Colombia * Chibchan **

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

– Colombia ** Barí (Tairona) – Colombia / Venezuela * Cofán – Colombia / Ecuador * Barbacoan ** Cayapa (Cha'palaachi) – Ecuador **

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

(Tsafiki) – Ecuador * Páez – Colombia * Yanomaman **

Yanomami The Yanomami, also spelled Yąnomamö or Yanomama, are a group of approximately 35,000 indigenous people of the Americas, indigenous people who live in some 200–250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. ...

** Ninam * Yaruro – Venezuela * Tucanoan ** Siona – Ecuador ** Tuyuca – Colombia / Brazil * Jivaroan ** Aguaruna – Peru / Ecuador * Waorani (Huaorani) – Ecuador

Amazonia

Arawakan Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient Indigenous peoples in South America. Branch ...

** Goajiro (Wayuu) – Colombia ** Wapishana – Guyana / Brazil ** Yavitero – Venezuela (extinct) **

Mashco Piro The Nomole or Cujareño people, also known as the Mashco Piro, are an indigenous tribe of nomadic hunter-gatherers who inhabit the remote regions of the Amazon rainforest. They live in Manú National Park in the Madre de Dios Region in Peru.< ...

(Yine) – Peru / Brazil ** Waurá – Brazil ** Baure – Bolivia ** Moxos – Bolivia *** Ignaciano – Bolivia *** Trinitario – Bolivia * Macro-Gê ** Karajá ** Gê *** Kaingáng *** Canela * Tupian ** Tupinambá – Brazil ** Guaraní – Paraguay ** Chiriguano – Bolivia ** Aché – Paraguay ** Mundurukú – Brazil ** Sirionó – Bolivia ** Wayampi – French Guiana * Cariban ** Carib (De'kwana) ** Panare – Venezuela ** Macushi – Brazil / Guyana ** Wai Wai – Brazil / Guyana * Panoan ** Cashibo – Peru ** Shipibo-Conibo – Peru ** Yaminahua – Peru ** Chácobo – Bolivia ** Pacahuara – Bolivia * Tacanan ** Ese Ejja (Huarayo) – Peru / Bolivia ** Tacana – Bolivia ** Cavineña – Bolivia ** Araona – Bolivia * Catuquina – Acre, Brazil * Puinavean (Nadahup/Makú) ** Hup – Brazil / Colombia ** Yuwana (Hodï)? – Venezuela *Peba- Yaguan ** Yagua – Brazil * Chapacuran ** Pacaas Novos – Brazil * Uru-Chipaya ** Chipaya – Bolivia * Trumai – Brazil * Aymara * Cayuvava – Bolivia (extinct) * Itonama – Bolivia * Movima – Bolivia

Southern South America

* Guaicuruan **

Pilagá fThe Pilagá (in Pilagá language, Pilagá language: ''pit'laxá'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous people of the Guaycuru peoples, Guaycuru group that inhabits the center of the province of Formosa Province, Formosa, in Arge ...

– Argentina ** Toba – Argentina / Paraguay ** Mocoví – Argentina * Matacoan ** Chorote – Argentina ** Maká – Paraguay ** Nivaclé – Paraguay ** Wichi – Argentina * Zamucoan ** Ayoreo – Paraguay / Bolivia * Mascoian ** Sanapaná – Paraguay * Moseten ** Mosetén (Tsimané) – Bolivia *

Chon CHNOPS and CHON are mnemonic acronyms for the most common elements in living organisms. "CHON" stands for carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, which together make up more than 95 percent of the mass of biological systems. "CHNOPS" adds ...

** Selkʼnam (Ona) ** Tehuelche * Qawasqar * Puelche (Gününa Küne) – Argentina Pampas * Kunza – Chile (extinct) *

Mapudungun Mapuche ( , ; from 'land' and 'people', meaning 'the people of the land') or Mapudungun (from 'land' and 'speak, speech', meaning 'the speech of the land'; also spelled Mapuzugun and Mapudungu) is either a language isolate or member of the s ...

– Chile / Argentina * Yagán (Yaghan)

Northeast Caucasian

* Northeast Caucasian ** Nakh *** Chechen ** Avar–Andic *** Avar *** Andi *** Botlikh *** Chamalal *** Ghodoberi *** Bagvalin (Bagvalal) *** Tindi *** Karata *** Akhvakh ** Tsezic *** Tsez *** Hinukh *** Bezhta *** Hunzib *** Khvarshi ** Lak (isolate) ** Khinalug (isolate) ** Dargi *** Dargwa ** Lezgic *** Archi *** Udi *** Lezgi *** Aghul *** Tabasaran *** Budukh *** Rutul *** Tsakhur

Indo-European

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

** Hittite ** Tocharian A/B **

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

(Eastern, Western) **

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

, Tosk **

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

(Ancient, Modern) ** Indo-Iranian ***

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

***

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

*** Tats (Judeo-Tat) ***

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

*** Romani **

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

*** Irish (Old, Modern) *** Breton *** Welsh ** Germanic ***Core Germanic **** English (Old, Middle, Modern) ****

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(Old, Middle, Modern) ****

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

**** Dutch **** Gothic *** Scandinavian ****

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

**** Danish **** Swedish **

Balto-Slavic The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic languages, Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits ...

***

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

**** Lithuanian **** Latvian **** Prussian *** Slavic ****

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

****

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...

**** Bulgarian ****

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

**** Polish ****

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

** Romance ***

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

***

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

*** Portuguese *** Catalan *** French ***

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

*** Romanian

Uralic

* Uralic **

Finnic languages The Finnic or Baltic Finnic languages constitute a branch of the Uralic language family spoken around the Baltic Sea by the Baltic Finnic peoples. There are around 7 million speakers, who live mainly in Finland and Estonia. Traditionally, ...

*** Finnish ***

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

*** Võro ** Hungarian **

Mordvinic languages The Mordvinic languages, also known as the Mordvin, Mordovian or Mordvinian languages (, ''mordovskiye yazyki''), are a subgroup of the Uralic languages, comprising the closely related Erzya language and Moksha language, both spoken in Mordovia ...

*** Erzya-Mordvin ** Komi **

Khanty The Khanty (), also known in older literature as Ostyaks (), are a Ugric Indigenous people, living in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as " Yugra" in Russia, together with the Mansi. In the autonomous okrug, the K ...

** Udmurt **

Mansi Mansi may refer to: * Mansi people, an Indigenous people of Russia ** Mansi language *Mansi (name), given name and surname *Mansi Junction railway station * Mansi Township, Myanmar ** Mansi, Myanmar, a town in the Kachin State of Myanmar (Burma) * ...

** Mari ** Samic languages ***

Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

** Samoyedic *** Nenets *** Selkup

Tai-Kadai

* Tai-Kadai ** Kra *** Gelao (Qau) *** Gelao (Hakei) *** Buyang (Langjia) *** Buyang (Ecun) ** Hlai *** Li ( Baoting) ** Kam-Sui *** Lakkja *** Mulam *** Maonan *** Chadong *** Kam, Southern *** Sui ** Tai *** Zhuang ( Longzhou) *** Nung ( Fengshan) *** Nung (Lazhai) *** Nung ( Ningbei) *** Tai Khuen *** Tai Lue *** Dehong *** Shan *** Thai (standard) *** Thai (central) *** Thai ( Khorat) *** Thai (

Songkhla Songkhla (, ), also known as Singgora or Singora (Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Pattani Malay: ซิงกอรอ, Singoro), is a city (''thesaban nakhon'') in Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. Songkhla lies ...

)

Others

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

Elamite Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Scythic, Median, Amardian, Anshanian and Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was recorded in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite i ...

* Turkic **

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

** Nogai ** Kumyk ** Chulym * Austronesian ** Proto Austronesian ** Proto Polynesian *** Rotuman – Fiji *** Tongan *** Marquesan *** Tuamotuan *** Hawaiian ***

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

***

Rapa Nui Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (also known as Afro-Asiatic, Afrasian, Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic) are a language family (or "phylum") of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of th ...

** Semitic ***

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

***

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

** Chadic *** Hausa *** Polci *

Nilo-Saharan The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of around 210 African languages spoken by somewhere around 70 million speakers, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributari ...

** Ghulfan * Creoles **

Negerhollands Negerhollands ('Negro-Dutch') was a Dutch-based creole language that was spoken in the Danish West Indies, now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands. Dutch was its superstrate language with Danish, English, French, Spanish, and African elem ...

(Dutch-based) – U.S. Virgin Islands ** Limonese Creole (English-based) – Costa Rica ** Lengua (Quechua-based) – Ecuador (mixed)

References

*Key, Mary Ritchie & Comrie, Bernard (eds.) 2015
The Intercontinental Dictionary Series
Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

External links

Intercontinental Dictionary SeriesGuide to the Intercontinental Dictionary Series project CD-ROMs.
Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. {{Cross-Linguistic Linked Data Educational projects Word lists Linguistics websites Linguistics databases Lexical databases Cross-Linguistic Linked Data