In-World Glossary Software
yazar.io's Glossary section keeps the words that belong to your world in one place: invented terms, titles, forms of address, sayings and place words. Each term is a record of its own, with a short definition, Category, Language and Meaning fields and a long description, and it links to characters and places through @Name mentions. The Glossary is on every plan and doesn't count toward the free plan's per-type record limit.
What does the Glossary section hold?
Building a world means coining words: the name of a rank, a way of greeting, a currency, an old word for 'pass', a curse only one people uses. None of these is a character or a place, but you still have to use them consistently. The Glossary is the section that keeps each of those words as a record. It's one of the built-in sections, and you can turn it on or off any time under Sections in Book Settings.
What's in a term record?
Every term has a name and a short definition that shows in the list. The profile comes with three built-in fields: Category (your own split, such as title, saying or place word), Language (which of your world's languages the word belongs to) and Meaning. Below that, the description takes the term's usage, origin and example sentences at whatever length you like. Apart from the record's name, you don't have to fill in any of the fields.
If the built-in fields aren't enough, add your own to the Glossary's Field Template: Pronunciation, Plural, Used By. A field you add to the template appears on every term, and you can also add a field to a single term alone. On the free plan you can define 10 custom fields per type on top of the built-in ones; Yazar Pro removes that cap.
How do terms connect to characters and places?
Mention a character or a place with @Name in a term's description and a link is made; the term then appears under Linked pages on that character's page. It works the other way too: mention the term in a character's description, and the term's page shows the records that use it. So the answers to 'Who holds this title?' or 'Which people's texts use this word?' collect on the term's own page.
As the list grows, filter and sort the Glossary by the fields in its Field Template: only the words of one language, or only the titles. The list's search box finds a term by name as well.
Sharing the glossary with readers
Fantasy and science fiction novels often end with a glossary. When you turn on your book's Shareable Wiki you can publish the Glossary too: readers see your terms on read-only pages and can follow a link in a term's description to the character or place it mentions. You choose which sections are published, and you can hide a single term you aren't ready to reveal. If you want a printed glossary at the back of the book, export your terms as Markdown or JSON and edit from there.
How is the Glossary different from Lore?
The Glossary is for short definitions; the long account of a rule, a legend or an institution belongs in Lore. Defining a term in the Glossary, telling its backstory in Lore and linking the two with @Name is the tidiest setup. Which words deserve an entry and how to grow the list are covered in our guide on how to build an in-world glossary, and other methods are compared in the best in-world glossary tools list.
The Glossary isn't a language construction tool: it doesn't produce conjugation tables, grammar rules or alphabets. You can keep an invented language's vocabulary grouped by the Language field and describe its grammar in a Lore record.
Is the Glossary on the free plan, and how many terms can I add?
Yes, the Glossary is on both plans. Terms don't count toward the 15-records-per-type limit that applies to sections such as Characters on the free plan. Only a fair use threshold applies.
Are my glossary terms stored encrypted too?
A term's description and the values in its profile fields are stored encrypted in the database. The term's name and short definition are kept unencrypted so they can be searched and listed. This isn't end-to-end encryption; the server decrypts the content for an authorized request.
Can I rename the Glossary section?
Yes. Section names can be changed per book, so the Glossary can become 'Terms' or 'The Old Tongue'. You can set its wiki address separately as well.
Is the Glossary in the mobile app?
Yes. You can add, edit and search terms in the iPhone, iPad and Android app, and you see the same records as on the web.
Are terms explained automatically in my manuscript?
No. yazar.io doesn't hold your manuscript; you write the novel in Word or Google Docs. The Glossary is a reference you consult while writing and, if you choose, open to readers on the wiki.
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