Wiktionary
Query the crowd-built dictionary through MediaWiki's action API
The English Wiktionary is served by the same MediaWiki action API that powers Wikipedia, so you can pull definitions, etymologies and translations as structured JSON. Ask for the extract, wikitext, or any prop you like via query parameters. No key, no signup — just the standard MediaWiki endpoint.
GET https://en.wiktionary.org/w/api.php?action=query&titles=hello&prop=extracts&format=json
{
"batchcomplete": "",
"query": {
"pages": {
"4803": {
"pageid": 4803,
"ns": 0,
"title": "hello",
"extract": "<h2>English</h2> ... Alternative forms: hullo (UK) ... First attested in 1826. (HTML trimmed)"
}
}
}
}curl "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/api.php?action=query&titles=hello&prop=extracts&format=json"const res = await fetch("https://en.wiktionary.org/w/api.php?action=query&titles=hello&prop=extracts&format=json");
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);import requests
res = requests.get("https://en.wiktionary.org/w/api.php?action=query&titles=hello&prop=extracts&format=json")
print(res.json())BROWSER CALLS BLOCKED (NO CORS/HTTPS) — USE THE CURL SNIPPET
/api.php?action=query&titles=hello&prop=extracts&format=jsonPROBEDQuery the crowd-built dictionary through MediaWiki's action API
/api.php?limit=5Api Php — documented GET route.
/api.php?page=1Api Php — documented GET route.
We probe a documented GET and expect 2xx JSON — full uptime and health score. Export includes every documented route below.
Stable. No schema drift observed since monitoring began — the response shape has not changed under our checks.
Wiktionary: common questions
Is Wiktionary free to use?
Yes — Wiktionary is a free books & words API. Free tier: Free — public MediaWiki action API. Commercial use is allowed on the free tier.
Does Wiktionary need an API key?
No — Wiktionary needs no API key or signup. You can call it straight away; rate limits still apply (No hard published cap; Wikimedia User-Agent policy and request-etiquette apply).
Can I call Wiktionary from the browser?
Not directly — Wiktionary doesn't send browser-friendly CORS headers, so call it from a server or proxy instead. Copy the curl or Python snippet on this page to get started.
Is Wiktionary up right now?
As of our last scheduled check, Wiktionary is unmonitored. We re-probe it every sweep — the status badge and uptime chart above always show the latest.