Member Avatar for pars99

I've been reading a lot of books on neuroscience and things of that nature and I was wondering if I could integrate a medical dictionary into my Kindle just like the regular dictionary it already has. I know this sounds like an odd question but I have been looking for an answer to this question for a long time and XDA was zero help so I figured the best place would be daniweb.com. Thank you in advance.

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Short answer for : the behavior depends on which Kindle you mean. E‑ink Kindles (Paperwhite, Voyage, etc.) let you add a Kindle‑formatted dictionary file and make it the device default; Fire tablets (including early Kindle Fire Gen‑2 models) historically did not expose the same “set default dictionary” behavior, so you can’t reliably graft a custom dictionary into the built‑in lookup on an unmodified Fire. As suggested, the Fire is Android‑based, so the realistic routes on a Fire tablet are (a) use a standalone Android medical dictionary app or (b) sideload tooling/apps (ADB/Play Store) — but adding a system dictionary to the Kindle reader on an older Fire is limited. ()

If you actually have an e‑ink Kindle, the usual, simple method is: obtain a Kindle‑compatible dictionary file (MOBI/AZW), connect the Kindle by USB, copy the file into the device’s documents/dictionaries folder, then choose it in Settings > Language & Dictionaries > Dictionaries. Converting/packaging tools like Calibre can help produce a proper MOBI dictionary if needed. Don’t rely on “Send to Kindle” for a dictionary — it often ends up as a regular book rather than a system dictionary. (leawo.org)

If you have a Kindle Fire Gen‑2 tablet and want a medical lookup without rooting: install a medical dictionary Android app (from the Amazon Appstore or Google Play). To get Play store apps you can install Google Play or sideload an APK; enable Developer Options / “Apps from unknown sources” and use ADB if you prefer: 

adb install path/to/app.apk

Sideloading and installing Play requires care (security and compatibility). (wired.com)

Advanced note: people have used rooting / system hacks to copy dictionary files into system areas so the Kindle app will use them, but that’s device‑specific, risky and not recommended for most users. If ease and reliability matter, buy a Kindle‑format medical dictionary (if available) for your device or install a reputable Android medical dictionary app. (mobileread.com)

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Member Avatar for rubberman

Well, the Kindle is basically an Android device, though I'm not sure if it supports the Android Store, which probably has something like what you are looking for. FWIW, I have found a bunch of neuroscience dictionaries on Amazon, some of which have Kindle versions. The $64 question is whether or not you can integrate them into the general operation of the device, such as when you are creating/editing a document and need to do spell-checking, etc. Don't know... :-(

Edited by rubberman
Member Avatar for pars99

Thank you rubberman. I'm hoping there is an application on the Android Market (now Google Play Store) that does what I'm hoping to do. I figured there would be a way to do this through ADB or something because this involved the OS itself. However, if there is an application, I can probably internet it, I can probably find a way to get it onto my Kindle through ADB. Again, thank you.

Member Avatar for Kelly Burby

Is it ????? really going to happen????

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