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The largest dictionary in the world is "het Woordenboek der
Nederlansche Taal (WNT)" (the Dictionary of the Dutch
language). It took 134 years to create the dictionary (1864 - 1998).
It consists of approximately 400,000 words on 45805 pages in
92000 columns.

2. Types of dictionaries
If we speak about the dictionary as a linguistic term, it is a
list of words with their definitions, a list of characters, or a list of
words with corresponding words in other languages. Many
dictionaries also provide pronunciation information; grammatical
information; word derivations, histories, or etymologies;
illustrations; usage guidance; and examples in phrases or
sentences. Dictionaries are most commonly found in the form of a
book, but more and more dictionaries are produced as software
runs from electronic PDA or a general purpose computer. Most
dictionaries are produced by lexicographers.
Since words and their meanings develop over time,
dictionary entries are organized to reflect these changes.
Dictionaries may either list meanings in the historical order in
which they appeared, or may list meanings in order of popularity
and most common use.
Dictionaries also differ in the degree to which they are
encyclopedic, providing considerable background information,
illustrations, and the like, or linguistic, concentrating on
etymology, nuances of meaning, and quotations demonstrating
usage.
Any dictionary has been designed to fulfill one or more
functions. The dictionary functions chosen by the maker(s) of the
dictionary provide the basis for all lexicographic decisions, from
the selection of entry words, over the choice of information types,
to the choice of place for the information (e.g. in an article or in an
appendix). There are two main types of function. The
communication-oriented functions comprise text reception

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