What is GPC?

Cymraeg

About the Dictionary

What is GPC?

Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru is a standard historical dictionary of Welsh similar in plan and status to the Oxford English Dictionary. It presents the vocabulary of Welsh from the earliest texts of the eighth and ninth centuries right up to the present day. It was prepared by a team of researchers over a period of 90 years. It is regularly extended and the older entries are revised. The date of publication of the entries varies between 1950 and this year, and is given after the headword.

Definitions are in Welsh, with English synonyms. Detailed attention is paid to variant forms, collocations, and etymology. With this app it is possible to search the headwords, variants, collocations, and cross-references. Also, by choosing to search for English words, the English synonyms can be searched.

It is possible to search for part of a word (e.g. searching for ‘+gi’ will find every entry which ends with ‘…gi’, such as bolgi and celwyddgi). It is also possible to search for more than one word (e.g. searching for ‘byth a’ will find byth a beunydd, byth a hefyd, and beunydd a byth).

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How big is GPC?

GPC is a large dictionary, containing:

  • 91,234 entries
  • 129,918 headwords
  • 92,930 etymological sections
  • 137,971 Welsh definitions
  • 7,370 variants
  • 35,164 collocations
  • 424,295 illustrative quotations
  • 6,014 different bibliographical sources
  • over 9 million words in total
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When was GPC written?

The original publication date for each entry is shown to the right of the headword, between brackets.

The first edition of GPC appeared between 1950 and 2002 and the second edition is in progress. Most of the A–B section has been thoroughly revised, and the second edition entries can be seen here. From C onwards the editors are adding new entries and re-editing a selection of existing entries. The latest work will be added regularly to GPC Online and the app.

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Which is the standard spelling/gender/form?

GPC aims to follow standard Welsh orthography in the spelling of headwords and plural forms, variants, and collocations. The form which appears first is the most common today. This also applies to gender and the plural forms listed. With verbs, the most standard verb-noun is placed immediately after the colon.

With names, the gender noted first is the most common in the literary language, but remember that the gender of words can vary in different areas.

The spelling of the illustrative quotations follows the original text. Texts are sometimes quoted from editions which have standardized the orthography: these are quoted exactly as they appear in the edition.

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How can I get more help?

If you require any additional help, if you have difficulty using the Dictionary or would like to ask a question about a specific word, you can contact us through:

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