DICTIONARY SEARCHING SYSTEM

A dictionary searching system retrieves a character string which is described by input reference number and characters from a plurality of mutually different character strings which are registered in a dictionary in correspondence with reference numbers assigned to the character strings. The dictionary searching system includes a dictionary which is made up of an index part for storing in correspondence with the reference numbers a reference number which is assigned to one of character strings which are obtained by adding a character to the character string which is assigned the input reference number and the character which is added to the one of the character strings and a list part for storing in correspondence with the reference numbers a reference number which is assigned to one of character strings having a last character which differs from that of the character string which is assigned the input reference number and the character which is added to the one of the character strings, a reading part for initially reading information from the index part by specifying the input reference number and thereafter reading information from the list part by specifying the reference number which is read from the dictionary, a detecting part for detecting each character which matches the input characters out of characters read from the dictionary and for outputting a result of this detection as a retrieval result, and a deciding part for deciding whether or not a reference number is included in an output of the dictionary and for outputting a result of this detection as a retrieval result, where the reading part, the detecting part and the deciding part operate independently of each other.