Lingowl
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An AI translator for your browser. Any source language, your own API key, and no server in between.

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harbourweekly.example / the-quay
Harbour Weekly · DawnBy Ines Calder · 6 min read

Dawn at the Fish Market

A fishmonger waves a crate of mackerel and shouts, “Ce matin, la pêche est bonne !” An old sailor grumbles, “Nunca vi tanto banco de sardinas.”

A student from Hamburg sighs, “Dieses Fernweh wird nie vergehen.”

pêche
/pɛʃ/FR → ENn.

the catch; fishing

Action de prendre du poisson ; ce qu'on a pêché.

Try it: drag or double-click an underlined word, or Tab to one and press Enter

Three steps, no middleman

Fui al banco a cambiar dinero.

banco
/ˈbaŋ.ko/ES → ENn.

bank (financial institution)

Entidad que guarda y presta dinero.

Step 1

Select a word

Drag, double-click, or use the right-click menu or a shortcut, on any page.

Step 2

Send it, with its sentence, to your AI

Straight from your browser to the provider you configured. Lingowl has no server to route it through.

Step 3

Get back only this sense

The card shows what the word means in this sentence, with pronunciation and a one-line definition.

One word.
Three meanings.

The same word means different things in different sentences. A dictionary lays out every sense and leaves the guessing to you. Lingowl reads the whole sentence and tells you only the one it uses.

banco

Dictionarybancobankbenchshoalstoolworkbenchsandbank…Every sense, you pick
01

Fui al banco a cambiar dinero.

banco
/ˈbaŋ.ko/ES → ENn.

bank (financial institution)

Entidad que guarda y presta dinero.

02

Nos sentamos en un banco del parque.

banco
/ˈbaŋ.ko/ES → ENn.

bench

Asiento largo para varias personas.

03

Un banco de peces pasó bajo el barco.

banco
/ˈbaŋ.ko/ES → ENn.

shoal (of fish)

Conjunto numeroso de peces que nadan juntos.

bancoOne word, three sentences, three meanings, one at a time. Click a word to replay.

Everything you need,
nothing you don't

Any source language

No language picker to fiddle with. The AI detects it from the sentence, and you can override it.

11 target languages

Read the meaning in the language you think in.

简体中文English日本語한국어FrançaisDeutschEspañol+4

5+1 AI providers

Five providers, plus any OpenAI-compatible endpoint.

DeepSeekOpenAIAnthropicGeminiOpenRouter

4 ways to trigger

Copy a lot? Switch to double-click or a modifier key.

On selectselect
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⌥ ⇧ L Context menu and shortcut

Works with keyboard selections too.

CSV · JSON
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Looked-up words are saved and export in one click.

Light and dark

Follows your system, or switch by hand.

Master-password lock

Optional: lock your key behind a master password. The UI only ever shows a masked value.

No server.

There is no Lingowl backend. The extension talks only to the provider you chose, straight from your browser, with no third party on the way.

  • No tracking.

    No analytics, no ads, no usage data collected. Ever.

  • Your key stays local.

    Your API key lives in your browser only. It is never synced or uploaded.

  • Text goes only to your AI.

    The word and its sentence go to the provider you configured, and nowhere else.

Read the full privacy policy

Bring the AI you already trust

DeepSeek
OpenAI
Anthropic
Google Gemini
OpenRouter
Custom endpointAny OpenAI-compatible API

You pay your provider directly. Lingowl never touches the bill.

Questions, answered

Is Lingowl free?
The extension is free. The AI you connect bills you by usage, directly. A single lookup typically costs a tiny fraction of a cent.
What key do I need, and where do I get it?
An API key from the provider you pick, created in its developer console. The guide walks through each provider, including how to set a spending cap.
Which browsers are supported?
Chrome and Edge (and other Chromium-based browsers).
Where does my data go?
The selected word and its sentence go only to the AI provider you chose. Lingowl has no server and no analytics.
Which languages are supported?
Any source language. Meanings can be shown in 11 languages, including English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
How is this different from a dictionary or translator?
A dictionary lists every sense; a sentence translator gives you a whole paragraph. Lingowl answers one question: what does this word mean here?
Why bring my own key?
With no server in the middle there is nothing to subscribe to. Your key, your usage and your data stay yours.
Is my key safe?
It is stored only in your browser’s local storage, never synced or uploaded. You can add a master password for another layer of encryption.

Not here? Read the guide or write to us.

Select. Owl knows.

Next time a word makes you stop, just select it.

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Want to hear when it goes live? Write to alpacatomoon@gmail.com

Before the store listing goes live, you can install manually from the package