Data sources and licenses
This site is built on data from several open projects. The data is open; the product is not. Below is exactly which part is under which licence, what you may do with it, and what to write if you reuse it.
Short version: the word lists, definitions and example sentences are reusable under the licences listed below. The site's code, interface, brand, original lessons and audio are not open source. A data licence never turns the whole site into an open-source project.
What is under which licence
| Data | Used for | Licence | You must |
|---|---|---|---|
HSK definitions and translations | Word pages, HSK vocabulary lists, translated definitions, downloads | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Credit the source, link the licence, say what you changed, and license adaptations under CC BY-SA 4.0 (or a compatible licence). |
HSK word lists (word, pinyin, level) | All HSK pages and downloadable lists | MIT | Keep the copyright notice and permission notice with the files. |
Hanzi data (strokes, radicals, readings) | Character pages, stroke data, pinyin index | Unicode V3 | Include the copyright and permission notice with the data or its documentation. |
Stroke-order graphics | Character pages and handwriting practice | Arphic PL | Ship the full licence text with the data and keep the notices; derivatives stay under the Arphic Public License. |
Example sentences Tatoeba’s FAQ accepts one site-wide credit naming Tatoeba and the licence; per-sentence author links are not required for text. | Word pages, HSK lists, reading and shadowing | CC BY 2.0 FR | Credit Tatoeba and its contributors, and link the licence. |
Graded readings, grammar cards, interface text Written for this site. Not covered by the open data licences above. | Lessons, practice pages and the interface | All rights reserved | Written permission for copying or redistribution. Short quotations with attribution are fine. |
Pronunciation audio Generated for this site with Alibaba Cloud NLS text-to-speech (voice: aiqi). No third-party audio recordings are redistributed. | Every page with a speaker button | All rights reserved | Written permission for copying or redistribution. Short quotations with attribution are fine. |
Web and share-card fonts | Interface and og:image rendering | OFL 1.1 | Keep the licence and copyright notices; do not sell the fonts by themselves. |
Site code, design and brand The repository is not open source. Data licences do not apply to the code or the brand. | Everything you see and interact with | All rights reserved | Written permission for copying or redistribution. Short quotations with attribution are fine. |
Mixed files: each downloadable file states its own licences in manifest.json. When a file combines datasets, the stricter obligation applies to the whole file. manifest.json
Attribution you can copy
HSK definitions and translations
Definitions adapted from CC-CEDICT (https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=cc-cedict), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes: Converted from the CC-CEDICT line format; senses joined with "; "; pinyin and part-of-speech tags normalised. Japanese translations are adaptations of the same definitions and remain CC BY-SA 4.0.
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Definitions adapted from CC-CEDICT (https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=cc-cedict), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: Converted from the CC-CEDICT line format; senses joined with "; "; pinyin and part-of-speech tags normalised. Japanese translations are adaptations of the same definitions and remain CC BY-SA 4.0.
HSK word lists (word, pinyin, level)
Word lists derived from complete-hsk-vocabulary by Yanis Zafirópulos (MIT) and the official HSK 3.0 / 2.0 standards.
Changes: Normalised to simplified Chinese; levels mapped to the two HSK standards; part-of-speech tags normalised.
Licence: MIT License
Word lists derived from complete-hsk-vocabulary by Yanis Zafirópulos (MIT) and the official HSK 3.0 / 2.0 standards. Changes: Normalised to simplified Chinese; levels mapped to the two HSK standards; part-of-speech tags normalised.
Hanzi data (strokes, radicals, readings)
Unicode Character Database (Unihan), Unicode License V3.
Changes: Fields extracted from Unihan and normalised for the site.
Licence: Unicode License V3
Unicode Character Database (Unihan), Unicode License V3. Changes: Fields extracted from Unihan and normalised for the site.
Stroke-order graphics
Stroke graphics from Make Me a Hanzi (https://github.com/skishore/makemeahanzi).
Changes: Stroke paths extracted from graphics.txt and served as SVG.
Licence: Arphic Public License
Stroke graphics from Make Me a Hanzi (https://github.com/skishore/makemeahanzi). Changes: Stroke paths extracted from graphics.txt and served as SVG.
Example sentences
Example sentences from Tatoeba (https://tatoeba.org), contributed by their community, licensed CC BY 2.0 FR.
Changes: Sentences selected for HSK level and length; some sentence-final punctuation normalised; pinyin and audio added.
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 France
Example sentences from Tatoeba (https://tatoeba.org), contributed by their community, licensed CC BY 2.0 FR. Changes: Sentences selected for HSK level and length; some sentence-final punctuation normalised; pinyin and audio added.
Web and share-card fonts
Inter and Noto fonts, SIL Open Font License 1.1.
Licence: SIL Open Font License 1.1
Inter and Noto fonts, SIL Open Font License 1.1.
What the licences mean
- Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International official text
- Allows: Share and adapt the material, including commercially. Requires: Credit the source, link the licence, say what you changed, and license adaptations under CC BY-SA 4.0 (or a compatible licence).
- Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 France official text
- Allows: Share and adapt the material, including commercially. Requires: Credit Tatoeba and its contributors, and link the licence.
- MIT License official text
- Allows: Use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense and sell. Requires: Keep the copyright notice and permission notice with the files.
- Arphic Public License official text
- Allows: Use, copy and modify the font-derived graphics, including commercially. Requires: Ship the full licence text with the data and keep the notices; derivatives stay under the Arphic Public License.
- Unicode License V3 official text
- Allows: Use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute and sell the data. Requires: Include the copyright and permission notice with the data or its documentation.
- SIL Open Font License 1.1 official text
- Allows: Bundle, embed, redistribute and modify the fonts with software. Requires: Keep the licence and copyright notices; do not sell the fonts by themselves.
Full licence texts
The files below are shipped with this site so that a copy of the data always carries its licence. They are kept in their authoritative language; do not treat a translation as the licence itself.
- CC-BY-SA-4.0.txtdownload
- CC-BY-2.0-FR.txtdownload
- MIT-complete-hsk-vocabulary.txtdownload
- ARPHIC-PUBLIC-LICENSE.txtdownload
- UNICODE-LICENSE-V3.txtdownload
- OFL-1.1.txtdownload
A single plain-text summary is also available at NOTICE.txt. NOTICE.txt.
What is not open
The repository, the interface, the brand and the original lessons are proprietary. You may quote short passages with attribution, but you may not copy the site, its design or its original content into another product without written permission. Reusing an open dataset is always allowed under that dataset's licence.
Corrections
Found a wrong definition, a wrong HSK level, or a licence statement that does not match the files? Write to us — corrections are folded into the next build. [email protected]