unidic-lite

What it is and what it does

Unidic-lite bundles UniDic 2.1.2, a Japanese morphological analysis dictionary, as a PyPI package so it can be installed without separate downloads. It's designed to work alongside MeCab wrapper libraries to enable Japanese text tokenization and part-of-speech tagging in Python. The dictionary includes minor customizations like entries for 令和 and modifications to unknown-word handling.

The package trades convenience for size: it occupies roughly 250MB on disk after installation. It does not function standalone—you must separately install a MeCab wrapper to actually use it. The dictionary itself dates from 2013 (UniDic 2.1.2), which may limit its effectiveness on modern Japanese text.

Use it for:

• Japanese text tokenization and part-of-speech tagging when paired with a MeCab wrapper
• Building Japanese NLP pipelines that require morphological analysis without managing separate dictionary downloads
• Processing Japanese text in applications where pip-only installation is a constraint

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Provides a pip-installable Japanese morphological analysis dictionary (UniDic 2.1.2) for use with MeCab wrappers like mecab-python3 or fugashi.

Yes, but with conditions. Install only if you need Japanese morphological analysis, have already chosen a MeCab wrapper, and can tolerate a 250MB footprint and a 2013-era dictionary. The permissive license poses no obstacle. However, the project is abandoned (last release 2021-01-25), so compatibility with current wrapper versions is unverified and future maintenance is unlikely.

Install

unidic-lite on PyPI

pip install unidic-lite

uv add unidic-lite

poetry add unidic-lite

Installing unidic-lite

Before you install

High install friction: the package itself is 250MB on disk. No runtime dependencies listed, but requires a separate MeCab wrapper to function. Last release was 2021-01-25; project is abandoned with no recent maintenance.

License in practice

Dual-licensed under MIT or WTFPL (permissive); UniDic 2.1.2 data itself is under BSD license. No licensing restrictions on use.

Quickstart

pip install unidic-lite
# Then install a MeCab wrapper separately, e.g.:
# pip install mecab-python3
# or pip install fugashi
# Use with your chosen wrapper for Japanese text analysis

Requires a separate MeCab wrapper (mecab-python3 or fugashi) to be installed and functional; unidic-lite alone cannot perform morphological analysis

Verify before relying

• Whether the 2013-era UniDic 2.1.2 dictionary is adequate for modern Japanese text or if newer versions are needed
• Compatibility with recent versions of MeCab wrappers, given the package's abandonment since 2021

Package facts

Evidence: unidic-lite-1.0.8.tar.gz

Tags

More Linguistic packages