Terminology Web Search

[Felstaff]

This is something wikipeeja don't help me too good on, ya dig?

There have been several times when I've been writing shit down, and I've thought "what's the name for that bit?" It's happened when I wanted to know what the specific parts of a key (as in, one for unlocking treaʒure chests) was called.

Wiki was no help, but everything2 was. (Head, shaft, bow, nape, groove, teeth, etc.)

The same happened when I wanted to know the various parts of a church, and other things like "what's that cross-lattice part of a door called?" or "what's that bit in between your nostrils (above the philtrum) called?"

Now, my question is this: There was some kind of visual thesaurus (not visualthesaurus.com) somewhere on the interweb which had wonderful exploded/cross-sectioned pictures of various everyday objects (like locks, keys, cars etc.) and a hefty set of arrows pointing at each bit, helpfully telling you what it was called. I stumbled upon it once but can no longer find.

Kinda like this:


Anyone know what it is? Or does anyone know of a good database that would substitute a goggle search for "parts of {a|an} *"?

[Felstaff]

24 hours of gentle sobbing later...

No-one knows it, eh? Well I'll just have to knock on the door of my good friend Google. Shame his neighbour GIS just throws pictures of naked women at me whenever I ask him something like "Holly"

[Felstaff]

So after several seconds of searching, I came up with Visual Dictionary, which is exactly the thing I'm talking about, except it seems terribly limited in scope. If anyone knows of anything better/more expansive, I'd love to hear it.

This is the kind of stuff I'm looking for:

But, y'know, for everything you could find in wikipeeja.

[Number3Pencils]

Not really what you're after, but http://www.howstuffworks.com showed me how an engine works and told me what its parts are called. It might could do the same for other mechanical widgets.

[Felstaff]

The word I have been looking for, for goddamn near three years now, is "terminology". As such I have changed the topic title.

Is there an encyclopædia somewhere that deals with terminology? i.e. somewhere where I can type in the word "shoe" and then get a list of shoe terminology (sole, heel, lace, aglet, etc.), ideally with a nice exploded diagramme of a shoe?

I think such a place should exist!

Who wants to design Wikiterms© with me; an encyclopaedia for specific object terminology, that anyone can edit!

[Velifer]

That's a tall order.

I have Charles F. Chapman's Piloting, Seamanship and Small Boat Handling, 3rd ed. which does a wonderful job distracting me when I'm looking up the name for that spar that points down from the bowsprit (dolphin striker). Gray's Anatomy is available on Bartleby, though the Winking Skull is a pretty good resource too. Chilton's guides for car parts, Alton Brown and Shirley Courier for cooking terms and gadgets... each specialized.

You want all the jargon in one place? That's... MADNESS.

[Felstaff]

Very well, I shall begin by documenting everything I ever need to know the terminology of by linking to it here. Soon I can create a wobsite, and it will be Wikipedia with pictures. Pikipedia.

• Mechanical:
  
  Keys
  Locks
  Bolts
  Pulleys
  Car Windows
• Inanimate:
  
  Tobacco Pipe
• Domestic:
  
  Doors
  Windows 1, 2, 3
  Stairs
• Architecture:
  
  Arches
  Churches 1, 2, 3
• Biology:
  
  Anatomical terms of human location
  Anatomical terms of equine location
  Plant (stem & leaf)
  Human Brain
• Weaponry:
  
  Sword 1, 2, 3
  Pistol
  Military Slang
  

If anyone has any more they wish to add, please do so!

[Velifer]

But pictures are hard to search for.
Keywords: blue thing, little blobby bit on the end, pokey part over here. Bendy in the middle... Ugh. Not so good.

Are you going to make it hierarchical, like visual thesaurus?

Snaffle: a horse bit that acts with direct pressure, not leverage.

Parents: tack and harness (equestrian), pony play, tacky interior decorating items
Children: mouthpiece, rings, baucher, egg butt
Similar to: curb bit.

[Felstaff]

Usin' this thread as my reference for various terminology websites.

Computer/Technological Dictionary
IT Encyclopaedia
Language Terminology
Internet Lingo
Glossary of Musical Terms
Legal Dictionary
American Football! Terms
Exhaustive List of Collective Nouns
Visual Dictionary

[Anonymously Famous]

I'm not sure if this helps, but there are several multilingual terminology websites in existence, so if you know the term in one language, you'll likely be able to look it up in another.

For example:
IATE, a multilingual terminology database that, as I understand, was once updated by INTERPOL. I don't think that it's updated anymore, though.
Termium, the terminology database used by the government of Canada. It has quite a collection of terms in English, French and Spanish, and apparently they have Portuguese now, too.
termwiki.com. A wiki-like environment to search for terms in several languages. You can search by subject, but you don't get a diagram, like what you said you wanted earlier.

The above sites work well if you know what you're looking for in one language, but not if you're working in just one language and want to know what a specific part of a specific thing.

You could try doing a Google image search of "<general thing> diagram." In many cases, you may just find exactly what you're looking for.

[Felstaff]

Finally, the exact site I've been looking for.

Today I Learned That the small piece of wood that crosses a window pane, holding it in place is called a muntin!

[Liam O'Nym]

I think that you are looking for meronyms. That is, you know the whole, and you want to know the component parts.

[Felstaff]

You're my favourite New Poster.

TIL: Meronym.

[Eugo]

Very well, I shall begin by documenting everything I ever need to know the terminology of by linking to it here. Soon I can create a wobsite, and it will be Wikipedia with pictures. Pikipedia.
...

If anyone has any more they wish to add, please do so!

Maybe you could somehow include verbs, adverbs, adjectives relevant to each subject. While english language is mostly noun oriented (you do the x in many situations where other languages would have a verb x), there are still many verbs used as terms related to a specific area. Verbs like calibrate, tune, span, focus, charge, discharge, roll etc, which have specific meanings when applied to different technical or scientific contexts, or simply don't exist outside of these contexts.

[WanderingLinguist]

Finally, the exact site I've been looking for(http://visual.merriam-webster.com/).

It's nice, but I wish it were more complete. So many common terms are missing. For example, search for "desk" and it lists kinds of desks, but not terms for parts of desks (very few visual dictionaries seem to include "modesty panel", for example).

If there were a visual version of Wiktionary, I'd happily contribute. I think it's a fantastic idea. If it were based on MediaWiki, there'd need to be a few customizations to make it work for a visual-dictionary format (extensions to the wiki markup language, for example, maybe a visual tool to help with positioning callouts...etc.). But I think the back-end could be assembled based on MediaWiki without too much effort.