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DPD for KOReader

Read Pāḷi with DPD right inside KOReader, the free e-book reading app that runs on Kindle, Kobo, PocketBook and many other devices.

Long-press any Pāḷi word while you are reading, and the DPD entry pops up on the page. All the meanings appear together, compounds are broken into their parts, and the grammar tables are a tap away. Close the popup and you are back on your page, exactly where you left off.

The plugin is made by Ven. Nirodhavihāri and uses the full DPD mobile database, so it works offline, on the device. It is a free download from the plugin's releases page.

DPD for KOReader: compounds explained in one lookup, every sense in one view, declensions and conjugations DPD for KOReader: compounds explained in one lookup, every sense in one view, declensions and conjugations

What It Shows

  • every sense of the word in one popup, not one at a time
  • compounds split into their parts, each with a brief meaning — tap a part to expand it, or follow it to its own entry
  • declension and conjugation tables, roots, families and frequency
  • search in Pāḷi or English, with spelling suggestions
  • DPD's other dictionaries too, such as CPD and DPPN

Here a long compound from a sutta is looked up while reading. Each part of the compound is listed with its own meaning:

a compound looked up while reading, split into its parts a compound looked up while reading, split into its parts

And here are the senses of dhammaṃ, with one expanded in place:

the senses of dhammaṃ, one expanded the senses of dhammaṃ, one expanded

Installation

You will need KOReader v2026.07 or newer (on a Kindle, this takes some technical setup) and about 1.1 GB of free space.

  1. Download the plugin zip from the releases page and extract it into koreader/plugins/ on the device.
  2. Download dpd-mobile-db.zip from the latest DPD release and copy the dpd-mobile.db inside it to koreader/data/dpd/.
  3. Restart KOReader. Database status in the DPD menu should say Database ready, or Newer release, should work for a newer database.

Full instructions are in the plugin's README, which is also included in the download.

Keeping DPD Up to Date

The Plugin

Open Help → Check for updates in the DPD menu, choose Install and restart KOReader. Your settings are kept. Optional automatic checks (Help → Check for updates automatically) run about once a week, only when Wi-Fi is already on. They notify you of updates but don't install them automatically.

Versions 0.3.0 and earlier need one manual update first: exit KOReader, replace koreader/plugins/dpd.koplugin with the folder from the new zip and restart.

The Database

DPD has a new release every month, on the Uposatha day. To update:

  1. Download dpd-mobile-db.zip from the latest DPD release.
  2. Exit KOReader, replace koreader/data/dpd/dpd-mobile.db with the new one, and delete any -wal and -shm files beside it.
  3. Restart KOReader. Database status in the DPD menu shows the new release.

The DPD menu lives under Search → Digital Pāḷi Dictionary:

the DPD menu, showing Database: ready the DPD menu, showing Database: ready

Database status: Database ready Database status: Database ready

Bugs and Feedback

Please report bugs on the issue tracker, or write to dpd-koreader@nirodha.8shield.net.