Wikipedia talk:Basic English picture wordlist

This page

Feel free to link appropriate images for each word listed here. Since this is based strictly on Wikipedia:Basic English ordered wordlist (Picturable words section), please don't add new words. -- Netoholic @ 22:03, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Hi, would love to contribute a couple of pix, but no clue as to how. To make this list more useful an audio link offering both BE and AE pronunciations would be most welcome. When I use this page with my students I now tell them to type the word into a dictionary site that'll give them an audio. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.143.71.72 (talk • contribs)

Wikimedia Commons has free pictures that anyone can use. On English Wikipedia, it is possible to upload images. On Simple English Wikipedia, we do not allow uploads but you can use any of the pictures that are available at Commons. · Tygrrr^·talk· 18:17, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I used this to make a PPT for my English students here in Korea. I've replaced many of the images with those from The Noun Project, which are public domain or Creative Commons. I'd like to add them to Commons, if possible! -- peterburk @ 15 May 2012

Ambiguous meanings

Which meaning of "plane" should be shown? Currently an airplane is shown, but the plane article mostly talks about a geometric plane. I have not found any source which specifies which meaning should be shown. I think airplane is more useful in general life, but what should be done in other ambiguous cases? For example:

band

like a rubber band or a music band?

chest

body part (torso) or like a treasure chest?

drop

like a drop of water, or a candy (like lemon drop or cough drop), or something else?

frame

like a picture frame, or scaffolding?

garden

a place with flowers and vegetables, or a place with grass (lawn in American english) ?

pot

like flower pot or cooking pot, or just a general container?

Is there a general rule to decide which should be shown? Or should multiple definitions be shown? The inventor of Basic English was (from what I have found on Google/Wikipedia) lived in England in the 1930's. Should we make an effort to discern which definition was most common at that place and time? -- Jacius 05:07, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I suppose you'd have to refer to the original book to see which is meant. Drop, apparently, means a drop of liquid, for example [1]. I can't find out what "band" is meant to be directly, but the German translation here [2] means "gang". Equally, "frame" is translated as the German for "scaffolding" or "framework", and "pot" could be for flowers or cooking; the chest is the body part. A garden can be either with a lawn or with flowers or vegetables in British English, so if he was English, that's probably what he meant. Saintswithin 22:48, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Oh, and the meaning of "plane" in the German translation is the tool, for planing things! Saintswithin 22:52, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Here is the picturable words from the Basic-English.org website - http://ogden.basic-english.org/wordpic.html . That should help determine which meanings should be pictured. For some words, like "pot", perhaps two pictures would be appropriate.

At some point in the future, we should have plenty of images to choose from the Wikimedia Commons, so filling this wordlist in isn't a priority. -- Netoholic @ 04:13, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Be careful about WHAT you show on the pictures - try to use first-guesses

When looking over these prictures I see several things which should be taken care of:

• please, try to find a picture that is very typical and self explanatory
• try to imagine what word will be guessed by looking at the picture from somebody else but you
• don't use pictures that really mean something different although its meaning is very similar to what should be showed
• Is there also another word for this picture? Then skip it and try to find something more typical.
• if you show the picture to someone else and his first guess is something else than you imagined use his guess as word or drop the image completly an find another one
• please try to show pictures that show less art and are much more definite

This should be no kind of perfectionism but it will help people to learn more quickly.

I'll give you some examples

• Ants : please don't mix plural and singular forms. If you want the guess ant, please show only one. Why? Because sheep for example don't have any other singular/plural form. So somebody could think a plural of ant ist also ant.
• Army : please don't show a tank. Why? Because a tank is a tank and not the army.

  Instead think of what is typical for the Army: Some soldiers, some vehicules, some (heavy) guns and a tank. (But no planes as that's the Air Force, no ships as thats the Navy, no Marines). One soldier alone or several soldiers would also be no good choice because anybody would associate: Soldier or soldiers or even troops but not the army as a whole. Ok you could say you would guess the word "military"....

• Ball: Why do you show some very special crystal ball ? I would say the first guess would be something more like marble or so.

  Instead please show a very simple ball. (not a football or a soccer ball, just a simple onecolered ball)

• Bath : Well, I would guess first that it's a tub.

  Instead for a whole bath please show a whole one with mirrors, a sink, a tub, a shower, a washing machine, a hair dryer...

• Book : Okay I can see that most of you don't see a problem with a bible. But as there are some other religions... Besides the first guess on looking at the picture is: It's a bible. But not it's a book.

  Instead: It would be more political correct to show a simple onecolered book with no title on in. But a really typical one.

• Box: My fist guess is a cube.... and then a painted one....ok its near. But not that typical

  Instead we should see some ordinary box (not too much colors on it=would be a present, no bananas on it=banana box, no show box, etc.) just a simple box. Perhaps one for house moving.

• cloud : My first association is "sky". so one lonly cloud e.g. hand painted would be much better.

Here now the "better ones"

• Wheel : ok its kind of spartanic, but I wouldn't guess anything else than a wheel. So its a good choice.
• Apple : well one alone would be better but it's ok. (See above: Please show several things on a picture only if its a plural word or if the word is better expressed that way e.g. the word "army")
• cat, clock, eye, egg, dog, ear, spoon, stamp are very good
• hand, hammer, knife, library, moon, sheep, scissors also very good

I think clock must have changed since then, it took me multiple seconds to find the clock on the image. Unfortunately, I cannot change the page Drahflow 15:56, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

I think you get the message. Try to choose simple pictures for those who want to read simple english...

P.S. In school I hated very much those kind of tests where you had to write a description under some pictures and got a bad mark when you guessed right but the teacher had some other vocabulary in mind ("No this word is not in our vocabulary yet. So it is wrong") - Grrrr. I really hated that. --SimpliCissimus 14:04, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

As you can see, there are a lot of missing pictures as well. The ambiguous ones you spoke of are simply the closest I've been able to find on the Wikimedia Commons. Each time I work a little on this page, I do it by letter and re-check for new images there, changing to better ones as a I go. If you would like to provide some specific images from this list, please upload them to the Commons. I'm sure they'll be welcome. -- Netoholic @ 16:45, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Bath: In British English this means only the tub. It does not mean the room. Basic English was invented by an English person. So the British meaning is correct. I agree with some of your other points. 81.129.22.219 (talk) 09:41, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

List complete

I have found images or taken photographs for all missing entries in the list. I also replaced some that were criticized above (e.g. army, ball, box) and some others (e.g. feather). I did use some plural photos, e.g. bottle. Sometimes it helps to show more than one to get the idea. There is plenty of room for improvement. I'll keep my eye open for a lone cloud. --ArnoldReinhold 17:39, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

I'd like to see some more photos which more clearly show these words. The present images are ambiguous and don't represent a "typical" example of the word. Notes in (parentheses) show reasons that the image might be mistaken for something else.

bee (flowers, garden) - berry (plural) - bone (use a familiar bone, like a human femur [long leg bone]) - blade (knife) - bottle (plural) - boy (plural) - branch (show something larger than a twig) - brick (show a single brick, or a wall close-up) - chain (prefer something heavier) - cloud (plural, sky, horizon) - dress (need cropping) - face (statue, bust) - flag (prefer a real flag rather than graphic) - head (statue, bust) - hook (fish hook please) - house (greenery covers too much, fuzzy) - knife (bad angle, non-typical) - lip (could be better) - mouth (lips, prefer an open mouth) - net (obscure, use a real fish net) - nose (less hairy?) nut (plural) - pen (plural) - potato (plural) - ring (prefer a wedding band) - seed (blends with background) - sponge (looks like a brain) - stomach (i think this list means for that to be an external "tummy" view) - tail (can be better) - whip (need standard bullwhip) - wing (bird wing preferred)

For the body parts in general, please try to show them from a better angle. Perhaps self-shots aren't ideal. Also, don't be afraid to add arrows to photos to make it clear what we're referring to. -- Netoholic @ 19:51, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

I've updated bee, bone, cloud and knife. I'm seeking permission for a "net" photo I found. This is a work in progress. --ArnoldReinhold 12:54, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

---

I see a couple of representational problems with this page.

1. All the people pictured are white, whereas the audience is international.
2. The words listed represent only a small section of the world's society. "Church" is listed, for example, but neither "mosque", "synagogue", or "temple" are. The danger is alienation of the intended audience.

83.109.222.217 16:13, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

Visual representations of objects are culturally defined and require context, i.e. subject headings and indicated culture. See the culturally authentic lexicon (CAPL) for a project with over 2000 entries. French and Russian versions are in the making. http://www.washjeff.edu/capl/

Building for worship

The Basic English word "church" is explained by Ogden in The Basic Dictionary in full English as "edifice for worship" or "the religious profession." There is no sense of a specific religion for a building or way of belief. Specific proper nouns, (capitalized names) for specific institutions are fully Basic.

Some poor choices of images

• 
  angle? (radius is also highlighted)
• 
  Army. what are they doing? Picture could describe some strange verb.
• 
  Bath. First guess could be "tiles"
• 
  Could mean "strawberry", "plant", or "fruit" just as well as "Berry"
• 
  This is a picture of a stack of bricks, and first guess might be "stack" or "pile". Needs to have a single brick as the foreground subject.
• 
  Dying cat?
• 
  Stubble? Beard? Chin.
• 
  Spots? Manboobs? Chest.
• 
  Rust? Chain.
• 
  Dog? Unncessarily complicated by the stick
• 
  Where is the clock?

I'll stop at D. Pengo 08:40, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

A way to refer to the desired meaning could be to show more than only one picture. --83.64.85.242 18:04, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

(strikethru added to images that have been fixed or changed above) Pengo 23:58, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

The following images have issues and need to be revised as described: Band is too wide of a shot, shows more stage than band, maybe a tight shot of a band playing close together would work better. Clock seems to be showing a town square, not simply a clock. Cup shows a cup and saucer - does it reference the set or just one piece? Which piece? Flag seems too rigid to properly convey the idea, how about a real flag waving? -tonsofpcs 19:56, 12 August 2007 (UTC) (proxied by Sean William)

Jewel

The image used for Jewel is considered to be deleted on the Commons. The same picture is available at Image:Brillanten.jpg instead of Image:Brillanten.jpeg. I would have changed it, but I'm not allowed to as an anonymous IP. --L.m.k 13:26, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Body Parts

Man parts and woman parts should be shown the same amount. where is vagina, anus, breast? [original comment unsigned]

This article should limit itself to words included in "Basic English" only; in particular it should have only the 200 words that are defined as "picturable". I suggest that the "body parts" illustration does not belong here, even limited to the 200 words. I also was concerned that a nude drawing is unsuitable for young children. I would suggest using this drawing in an article listing words by category. Words not in Basic English should not appear in a Basic English article however. An improved version with more words would be excellent for a general simple-English-words vocabulary article, but even then I would ask whether it is better to include the new words or remove groin and penis as less common ESL words. 24.98.184.86 (talk) 01:42, 11 October 2012 (UTC)

Talking Dictionary

Can we link to pronunciations in wiktionary.org and make this project page into a visual talking dictionary?

Kaydell (talk) 21:07, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

Picture proposal

Army

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  7

Personally, I think number 2 or number 4 are better; but 4 could be misread as "soldiers". Can Number 2 be inpreted as "Flag"?--Eptalon (talk) 22:00, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

1 appears like a parade, 2 is probably a flag, 3 prehaps? 4, soldiers. Microchip • talk 20:36, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

If there were no flags in #2, I would have gone with that. I think 3 or 4 would be best. I like #3 more, though. -- RyanCross (talk) 20:40, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Added a few more, how about 7? Microchip • talk [EC] 20:42, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Number 5 and 7 have the problem: Soldier? --Eptalon (talk) 20:46, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Street

There is no picture for the word street. The picture of Merida Street from the main article would be a good choice.

• 
  1

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Ken tabor (talk • contribs) 00:42, 28 November 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, I've added it. Osiris (talk) 04:22, 28 November 2013 (UTC)

Bulb

Also "bulb" shows an image of a lightbulb but directs to the page solely about flower bulbs. I don't know which is the simple english meaning, but it seems like either the picture should be changed, or the link should direct to the "lightbulb" page (or show both pictures?) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 20:47, 29 November 2012‎ (talk) 134.67.73.190

I moved this down, because I think this needs some attention from somebody familiar with the lists. Osiris (talk) 04:24, 28 November 2013 (UTC)

It seems that "bulb" in Basic English is a shape. (See Ogden's Basic English at Vocabulary.com.) So either a light bulb or a plant bulb is a good a picture. Maybe a picture of both together would make this more clear. Ken Tabor (talk) 01:06, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

Good link! I think the two in the same picture is a good idea, but I had a quick look on Commons and did not find anything. Maybe a footnote or something? Or if someone has the time they can upload a composite image. Osiris (talk) 03:53, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

I have been looking for a good picture but have not had any luck. I am thinking now that the light bulb is the best example of a bulb shape. But maybe we should have something like a disambiguation page to make it clear that there are other bulb shaped objects such as plant bulb, the bulb of a thermometer, the bulb of a basting syringe, the bulb of a sphygmomanometer, etc. Ken Tabor (talk) 13:29, 8 December 2013 (UTC)

A link to wikt:bulb instead, perhaps? We only have two valid links at the moment (Bulb and Light bulb), so unfortunately not enough for a disambiguation page. Osiris (talk) 20:44, 8 December 2013 (UTC)

That is a good idea. Maybe all the pictures should link to Wiktionary definitions. Wiktionary also has it's own Basic English picture wordlist. Ken Tabor (talk) 23:04, 8 December 2013 (UTC)

K, I've added the link. Thanks for pointing this out! Osiris (talk) 07:30, 10 December 2013 (UTC)

Plane

The picture for "plane" shows an airplane. I believe in Basic English "plane" refers to the geometric form, and "airplane" should be used for an airplane. Does anyone have a picture to represent a geometric plane? Ken Tabor (talk) 00:49, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Korean Wiktionary link is dead

Title. Bennylin (talk) 02:52, 9 December 2022 (UTC)

@Bennylin  Fixed — *Fehufangą ♮ ✉ Talk page 03:08, 9 December 2022 (UTC)