Myanmar–English Dictionary


Myanmar–English Dictionary is a modern Government project in Myanmar, first published in 1993 by the Government of Myanmar's Myanmar Language Commission.
It is a guide dictionary for translating between English and the Myanmar Language. It was written by the members of the Myanmar Language Commission and the two Myanmar–English Dictionary Work Committees who participated in the compilation of this dictionary.

Myanmar–English Dictionary Work Committee(1)

  1. U Ba Nyunt,Member of the Myanmar Language Commission,Chairman
  2. U Htin Gyi,Member of the Myanmar Language Commission,Member
  3. Daw Kyan,Member of the Myanmar Language Commission,Member
  4. Dr.Than Htun,Member of the Myanmar Language Commission,Member
  5. U Thaw Kaung,Librarian,Universities' Library,Member
  6. U Thi Ha,Retired Professor of English,Member
  7. Staff members,Department of the Myanmar Language Commission

    Myanmar–English Dictionary Work Committee(2)

  8. Hla Shwe, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Chairman
  9. Htin Fatt, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Member
  10. Daw Myint Than, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Member
  11. Than Htut, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Member
  12. Win Pe, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Member
  13. Hla Mae, Retired Lecturer in English, Member
  14. Hpwa Yin, Retired Lecturer in English, Member
  15. Khin Kyi Kyi, Retired Lecturer in English, Member
  16. Khin Mae, Retired Lecturer in English, Member
  17. Ko Ko, Retired Secretary, Myanmar Red Cross Society, Member
  18. Myint Kyi "Tekkatho Myat Soe", Member
  19. Staff members, Department of the Myanmar Language Commission

    History of the Earlier Burmese-English Dictionaries

Judson's dictionary

The first Burmese-English dictionary compiled by Adoniram Judson appeared in 1826 and later in 1849 the second edition was published, which was better and more complete than the former edition. But it was enlarged by E.C Stevenson in 1893, with illustrative examples. Another one who made the expanded edition in 1921 was F.H. Eveleth but he removed valuable examples out of it.

A Burmese-English dictionary

, professor of Burmese at the University of London, worked with others on the Burmese–English dictionary project, which began in 1925 under the aegis of the Burma Research Society, was continued at the University of Rangoon and then the School of Oriental and African Studies. This small group completed 6 volumes of the dictionary, each 80 large-format pages, but it remains incomplete. Other participants were J. A. Stewart, C. W. Dunn, J.S. Furnivall, Gordon H Luce, Charles Duroiselle, Anna Allott, John Okell and, from the United States, R. Halliday and A. C. Hanna.
Oxford English Dictionary 4th editor C. T. Onions said "A lexicographer's life is a dog's life, but a lexicographer generally lives to an old age". This is true of several contributors to these Burmese dictionaries.