# CustomPinyinDictionary ends its Magisk modules at v20260101 and tells Fcitx users to install by hand > CustomPinyinDictionary is a CC-BY-SA-4.0 pinyin dictionary of over a million common words for Fcitx5 on Linux and Android and for Gboard on rooted Android. The Magisk and KernelSU modules that delivered it have been frozen, so the install path depends on your input method. **wuhgit/CustomPinyinDictionary** — A custom pinyin input method dictionary with over a million common words, compatible with Fcitx5 (Linux/Android) and Gboard (Android + Magisk or KernelSU). - Repository: https://github.com/wuhgit/CustomPinyinDictionary - Stars: 2,859 · Forks: 60 - Language: Unknown - License: CC-BY-SA-4.0 - Published: 2026-10-14 · Updated: 2026-10-30 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/wuhgit-custompinyindictionary ## A deduplicated word list assembled from public datasets, aimed at daily typing The dictionary targets everyday input habits and groups its content into humanities, geography, daily life and a catch-all. The humanities block holds idioms (chengyu), proverbs and sayings (suyu), poetry and Chinese-language dictionaries obtained from the FREEMDICT forum. The geography block covers the administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China at four levels (province, city, district or county, township), taken from the Administrative-divisions-of-China project, plus the names and capitals of major countries from the wgii project, and world country and first-level division names sourced from the General Administration of Customs. The daily-life block draws on the product classification catalogue of the National Bureau of Statistics, product catalogues from shopping sites such as JD.com and Taobao, and common personal names. The last group lists third-party input method dictionaries. All of it has been deduplicated and slimmed down, which is how the project can describe itself as a dictionary of over a million common words. The data comes with credit lines to its sources, and the repository carries the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license, so anything you redistribute must keep attribution and the same license. ## Fcitx5 on Linux wants one .dict file in a dictionaries folder On desktop Linux the install is manual and short. Download CustomPinyinDictionary_Fcitx.dict, then copy it into one of two folders. The per-user folder is ~/.local/share/fcitx5/pinyin/dictionaries/. The global folder is /usr/share/fcitx5/pinyin/dictionaries/, which may need root permission. If a dictionary with the same name is already installed, copying over it replaces it. Restart Fcitx and the new words take effect. Arch users have a second route: the AUR package fcitx5-pinyin-custom-pinyin-dictionary, which hands updates to your package manager. The per-user folder is the safer choice on a machine you share, since it needs no elevated rights and affects only your account. The global folder serves every user on the system, at the price of root access for each update. The two other repository folders, documents/ and magisk/, do not matter for a desktop install. Only the .dict file does. ## Fcitx5 on Android has a file-open route and a module route On Android, the first step is the same: download CustomPinyinDictionary_Fcitx.dict. Open it with the Files app (com.android.documentsui). Fcitx5 Android has registered itself as the handler for .dict files, so confirming the import is enough. If that does nothing on your phone, open the dictionary manager and add the file there. To reach it, switch Fcitx to pinyin mode (full or double pinyin), then go to the input method settings and choose the dictionary manager. One rule applies on the manual route: when this dictionary was installed before, delete the old copy first, or the new import will collide with it. The module route uses CustomPinyinDictionary_Fcitx_Magisk_.zip, installed through Magisk or KernelSU. A first-time install can fail with the error that the dictionary folder does not exist. The fix is to open the dictionary manager once so the app creates its directories, then run the install again. Since the module line has ended, the manual file import is the route that keeps working without root. ## Gboard only accepts the dictionary through a root module, and only for Simplified Chinese pinyin Gboard has no .dict import. The dictionary goes in through CustomPinyinDictionary_Gboard_Magisk_.zip, which Magisk or KernelSU installs. That means an unlocked bootloader and root before anything else. It works only for the Chinese (Simplified) Pinyin keyboard language and layout. Other Gboard languages never see these words. The project also warns of restrictions and problems in use and points to issue 21 for details, so read that issue before committing a phone to it. After a successful import there is a delay before new words show up while typing. To inspect what was imported, open Gboard settings, then Dictionary, then Personal dictionary, then Chinese (Simplified). For devices already rooted, the author suggests a command-line manual install as an option, without giving the commands in the README. Anyone going that way is on their own for the procedure, so a missing command is a real cost, not a footnote. ## Users from before 2022-04-22 must restore their old Gboard data before moving to the module Early Gboard users installed by replacing a file directly. Anyone who did that before 2022-04-22 is told to restore the dictionary to the state of their own backup first. Without a backup, the route is different. When you migrate to the Magisk module, choose uninstall during the module installation. The module then replaces the old dictionary with blank data, and you install it again afterwards. Skipping that step risks leaving the file-replacement version underneath the module's data. The cost of this history is that the project carries two generations of Gboard installs. A phone that went through the file-replacement era needs a clean-up pass, and the instructions assume you know which method you used. If you cannot remember, the uninstall-then-install sequence is the documented way back to a known state. The repository's one published release, tagged assets and dated 2022-04-11, lines up with that period, when the install method changed. ## Removing the module before uninstalling it leaves the dictionary data behind Installing, upgrading and uninstalling the module need no reboot and take effect at once. In the Magisk or KernelSU app, open the Modules page. A first install uses Install from storage, picks the downloaded zip, and then selects Install with the volume keys. An upgrade is a normal update check. Uninstall is a three-step sequence: install from storage with the same zip, select Uninstall with the volume keys, and only then remove the module. Pressing Remove straight away leaves the dictionary data on the device. The recovery is to run the uninstall steps again, then remove the module. Android's multi-user feature adds a wrinkle. Module information sits in a system directory shared by all users, but the dictionary data is written to each user's own data folder, where other users cannot read it. If a second user wants the words, that user must install the module. An install or upgrade by one user updates the data of every other user who already has the module. To drop it for one user, run only steps 1 and 2 of the uninstall under that user, and remove the module only after every user has uninstalled it. Work profiles created with Island or Shelter need manual steps described in issue 20. ## The module line is frozen at v20260101, and the author gives the reasons The maintainer announces that module updates have stopped, and that v20260101 will be the final module version. The stated reasons are practical: the author's own devices can no longer upgrade to the newest system, Magisk or KernelSU, new phones that match personal needs and allow bootloader unlocking barely exist, and a replacement phone keeps being postponed. Without such devices the author cannot promise to troubleshoot module problems as quickly as before, and the fragmentation problem would only grow. Users are thanked for five years of use, from November 2020 to January 2026. The advice follows from that. Fcitx users should move fully to manual installation, since the module only made updates easier to manage, and a more elegant approach is expected later. Gboard users with an unlocked bootloader and root can consider a manual command-line install. The repository itself was last pushed to on 2026-09-30, so the data and documents are still being touched even though the modules are not. The single release in the list, assets, dates to 2022-04-11, which means nothing in the release feed will tell you when the dictionary changes. Watch the repository instead. ## Conclusion Take CustomPinyinDictionary if you type Simplified Chinese pinyin in Fcitx5 on Linux or Android and want a large dictionary installed as a single .dict file. Be careful with Gboard: it needs unlocked bootloader, root and a module that will not get another release. Before you install, decide whether you can live with manual updates, because no module version after v20260101 is coming. ## FAQ ### How do I install CustomPinyinDictionary in Fcitx5 on Linux? Download CustomPinyinDictionary_Fcitx.dict and copy it to ~/.local/share/fcitx5/pinyin/dictionaries/ or the global /usr/share/fcitx5/pinyin/dictionaries/, then restart Fcitx. Arch users can install the AUR package fcitx5-pinyin-custom-pinyin-dictionary. ### Does CustomPinyinDictionary work with Gboard without root? No. Gboard receives the dictionary only through a Magisk or KernelSU module, so it needs root. It also applies only to the Chinese (Simplified) Pinyin keyboard language and layout. ### Will CustomPinyinDictionary get new Magisk module versions? No. The maintainer stopped updating the modules, and v20260101 is the final module version. Fcitx users are advised to switch to manual installation. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/wuhgit/CustomPinyinDictionary/issues) - [License: CC-BY-SA-4.0](https://github.com/wuhgit/CustomPinyinDictionary/blob/main/LICENSE) - [README](https://github.com/wuhgit/CustomPinyinDictionary/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/wuhgit/CustomPinyinDictionary/releases) - [wuhgit/CustomPinyinDictionary on GitHub](https://github.com/wuhgit/CustomPinyinDictionary) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/wuhgit-custompinyindictionary